hebrew university

when i went to israel, part of my quest was deciding whether or not i wanted to continue learning herbrew. many of my professors (whom i loved so much) had studied at hebrew university, which is right next to the jerusalem center. since i'd heard so much about it, and was toying with the idea of one day going there myself, i visited the campus a few days after my arrival in the holy land. 

i eventually decided not to keep studying hebrew, but to study arabic instead. at the time though, the feeling that went through me as i walked on that campus was so incredible. i had been taught by some brilliant people (namely don parry and jason yorgason) who had told me so many amazing things about this city and this school, and it was they who would plant the idea in my head to even consider going to jerusalem. 

i love them for that. 

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(i didn't get great pictures at hebrew u, but it really was beautiful.) 

 it's hard to get around (we may have gotten lost a couple times) and was supposedly built like a fortress. but if you can get inside, it's worth a stroll. 

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the little ones

i'm sure i'll have many posts of this nature in the future. it seemed like everywhere i went in the middle east, no matter how impressive the anciet ruins, magestic monuments or frenzied market places, it was the little ones running around that always caught the attention of my camera. i love 'people-watching' as it is, but when you're observing little kids in such a unique environment, it's just so fascinating. i would just always wonder how much they knew about their political surroundings, the historical importance and significance of what to them was simply, home. 

there they were, being kids. playing (well... sometimes working) anywhere they could, seemingly oblivious to all around them. i love them. 

i loved this little guy. almost as much as you love that fanny pack of mine.

this was on Hebrew University's campus. 

yes, he's dancing. and yes, he's got a toy uzi.

look at the look on his face... priceless. 

i actually watched these kids play with that ball for about fifteen minutes. we were up on the rampart, looking down. i love the clothes hanging in the background. one of my goals in life is to have a clothesline full of beautiful things in my backyard. and by beautiful things, i simply mean clean laundry. 

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this last one was taken as i saw soldiers with huge guns in real life for the first time. it was almost surreal. i love that that little boy is in the picture. 

for him, its nothing out of the ordinary.

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jerusalem in pictures

over the first few days in jerusalem, i took many, many pictures. these are a few of my favorites. most don't need any explanation, but i put a small caption with each photo. 

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shekels

damascus gate

old man

coffee

graffiti on a yellow door

arabic graffiti

just a man

entrance to the western wall - men on the left, women on the right

approaching the wall

jewish man

a winding road - west jerusalem

dome of the rock

young female soldiers

stairs and railings

jewish man walking

ping pong and chess 

me, trapped

orthodox couple

man walking on a straight line

girl riding a bike

the rampart

friends on the rampart

family walking

west jerusalem and two green bottles

me on the rampart walk

descending from the rampart

west jerusalem and the rampart

more of the rampart

west j

barbed wire

rampart walk

more west j

israeli flags

from the place i would have shot an arrow if i'd had one

atop jerusalem

i even found the trash interesting

a man, tired of selling

idf guarding the entrance to the old city

the ground

walls of the old city

spice

clothing for sale

old city street

gummies

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jerusalem in words

 this post is probably the only one that will have so few pictures. the lack of pictures during those first few days, however, caused me to write very detailed descriptions of everything in my emails, for which i'm grateful. 

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before we were allowed to go into the old city, we were able to wander around a little bit near the center. the first venture took place after church on saturday. i learned a valuable lesson that day. i didn't bring my camera with me (something that would never ever happen again) and i missed out on some great photos. luckily, Gage took a picture for me (seen below). 

the following is an excerpt from an email i wrote home that night:

Well I had my first Sabbath on a Saturday today! We had sacrament meeting in this huge room that has floor-to-ceiling windows with an amazing view of the city. It's so beautiful. It's so fun, cause there are a few families that live here with their little kids…seriously, seeing a young American mom with two babies in church today just made me realize how possible it would be…I'm just saying… It's a fun little branch. There are 80 of us students, and then about 25 others - mostly Hebrew U students. Two of them are guys I know from my Hebrew classes at BYU. It's fun to see how far they've come. After church we had a lot of free time, especially cause it was Fast Saturday… hehe. So here's what we did:

After church we left the center and walked up a winding road with very fast cars honking as they passed us. There was a lot of rusty pop cans and other rubbish in the grass. We turned a corner and there was a very run-down building across the street. There were three Palestinian teenagers in front pulling a stubborn donkey on a rope, and another little guy, closer to the road playing a tiny silver trumpet and dancing, trying to get our attention. I laughed. We kept walking and came to a little path. There was a huge jewish cemetery with white stone slabs marking each grave. Each was engraved with beautiful hebrew. Down at the end of the road was an older man sitting on a ledge beside his camel, who was sitting and rubbing his nose on the ledge. I asked Mahmoud (the man) if i could sit on his camel, and he kindly said yes! So I climbed up on foo-foo (the camel) and basked in the fact that I was sitting on a camel in Jerusalem. I've only been here four days and I've already accomplished my main goal to sit on a camel...I guess I have yet to actually ride one.

A little boy came up and handed my some olive branches and said very sadly, "give me more money." I didn't have any, plus I didn't like his tone, so I handed the branches back and patted him on the back apologetically. We headed down a steep little path and passed a gate with a lot of Latin on it and a sign saying that it closed at 2:30 (it was already 2:15) and that there was a fee. Since few of us had money, we just went and asked the man working, David, what it was. He said it was a little overlook and a chapel marking the place where Christ sat and said, "O Jerusalem" and then he said that he'd let us in for free if we were all modestly dressed...which we were (thank you BYU dress-code) so in we went. He stayed open late for us and even let us sing in the chapel, which was cool. we sang "Redeemer of Israel" looking out the big window behind the ornate little altar. We continued down the steep hill and passed a Russian church with beautiful a golden rooftop. It's location marks the ascension of Christ. It was closed, so we continued. the next gate looked busy. A young guy was yelling, "Mormons! mormons!" I looked at him and laughed, and he said, "you are mormons?" I said, "Yes we are!" He said, "Come! This is your gate!" We went towards it and realized it was the Garden of Gethsemane. That was amazing. There's a beautiful basilica and a courtyard with about eight very old gnarled olive trees. We all just sat in silence for a very long time. It was so amazing to think what had happened there. It's so hard to even comprehend it. This all puts so much realism into the things I've always learned. They seem less and less like stories and more like history. What a great day. We'd planned on going to the Garden Tomb, but Gethsemane was closer, so we decided to do that later. 

Well, I love my life. 

Bethany 

i came home that day very happy, and very tired. this is me on my lovely balcony

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the first few days that we were able to go out and explore were very interesting. it was almost overwhelming. we weren't allowed to bring out cameras with us the first time we went to the old city. we were taken out in little groups and shown around. it was kind of nice not having a camera, because it caused me to take it all in and try to remember every detail for myself without the help of a camera. i wrote home that night, and this is what i said:

we walked through the "old city" today. which is basically the coolest thing ever. it's where you find the old churches marking things like the garden tomb, the ascension, the martyrdom of stephen etc. there are donkeys and crazy cars, ultra- orthodox jews, head-to-foot covered muslim women, monks, nuns, young scantily-clad hipsters, soldiers with very big and very scary-looking machine guns (male and female)...just everything you could imagine. you can always hear at least three different languages, and it smells like a mixture of a dump, a farm, and the best bakery you've ever been in. there's awesome music playing, people yelling to get you to buy their stuff and little kids who come and tap you on the arm asking for money. there are buildings covered in bullet-holes, unfinished apartment complexes that have been that way for 40 years, every sign is in hebrew & arabic, and some have english too. i love it so much! i don't know how it would ever really be possible, but i want to live here. i've only been into the city once, and i am  already completely in love. as i was walking down the street looking at all the things they were selling, there wasn't a single thing i didn't want to own. the clothing, jewelry, food, shoes, bags, jewish stuff-yarmulkas, and menorahs, and then the Palestinian stuff, like the cool head-wraps, scarves and the qur'an. it's absolutely incredible. it's hot and humid, but i enjoy that too. 

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the shekel shack - my pride and joy

since none of us knew our way around jerusalem, we had to stay in the center for the first few days. we had many an orientation meeting, and we got our 'assignments'. the jerusalem center is like a little community, in which most things are done for us, but some things were left in our hands. committees were set up, so people could organize activities, service projects, sports, celebrations, and events.

and then of course, there was the snack bar. 

i was put in the snack bar committee, and at first i was a little disappointed. i didn't realize how much i would love it. david, who was in charge of the committee would become one of my favorite people in the whole world, and i would make several friendships over that counter. we had a contest to see what we should call our little shop. andrew's suggestion "shekel shack" won. good times were had at that shekel shack. 

i usually worked fridays... which was sometimes very lame. there was usually a big group of people going out on the town on fridays, and often there would be movie nights and things, but i would pass the time g-chatting with my sister, which i loved. i liked fridays, in that there was usually a lot of business. i had a lot of fun people to talk to, and i could usually get people to stock up on food for shabbat... especially since we only got breakfast and dinner on shabbat, and the shekel shack wouldn't be open on saturday. 

another perk about working the shekel shack was that i had the keys to the lounge (where the shack was located) and could let us all into the lounge (which security would lock on shabbat - saturday). this way we could watch movies and take naps on the bean bags. this also led to the creation of the tab. we started letting people create a tab (so as to not break the sabbath). that way everyone could eat whatever they wanted on those long hungry days and we'd get paid later. very clever. i have to say though... i can't believe how many shekels people actually spent at that place. just ridiculous. people love gummies...

jana and i made these posters to advertise... you should have seen the turn out. 

going back to what i said earlier, i think my favorite part of the assignment was becoming friends with david. we had so much fun shopping for the goods, coming up with schemes to get people to spend too much money, and just laughing a lot... mainly about our experimentation with selling mangos. 

 yes, they're maggots.

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journey to jerusalem

after four years of waiting, my time had come. i stood there in the salt lake airport, waiting to walk through security. i glanced back at my family who was still standing there watching me, and for the first time i felt nervous. i watched them disappear behind the heads of other travelers. the line moved slowly. i was anxious. anxious to get through security, anxious to sit down and put my bag down, anxious to get on that plane, and even more anxious to get off of it. i moved up for my turn with security, took a big breath, and stepped into the most life-changing experience of my life. 

i don't remember much about my time on the airplane. i sat next to kyle. that much i remember. i was intimidated by him. he seemed smart and i wondered as we talked how our conversations would be in four months. i wondered that about all of the other students i was traveling with. i kind of assumed we'd become friends, but would we really? he was reading the Qur'an. i'd never read it, and suddenly i felt very unprepared to be going to the middle east. i would later find out that he was intimidated by me as well. i was reading a book called The Israelis, and i guess i seemed to know a lot about israel... i had no idea just how little i really knew. 

i'll never forget the feeling that came over me as the airplane touched down in israel. later that day i would write to my sister, brooklyn: 

"I seriously feel like i'm finally home. it's very weird and i don't really understand it but i feel like my whole life has been leading up to this."

in the tel aviv airport, moments after arrival

i arrived in tel aviv after about twenty-four hours of travel, tired, hungry, and elated. they had given us dinner on the flight. couscous and some other things that were slightly unappealing. my favorite part of the meal was the menu. it was in english, arabic and hebrew. i gazed at it in awe for a long time before sliding it into my book as my new bookmark.

they herded us on to busses that were waiting outside. i sat near the middle of the bus, and john came and sat next to me. i warned him that i probably wouldn't say much on the bus ride, since i was so sleepy, and so in awe. i also warned him that i took a lot of pictures... no, really, a lot.

my first impressions of the holy land and the things that really struck me would remain with me and continue to intrigue me throughout my time there. 

taken from the bus on the way to the center from the airport

taken from the bus on the way to the center from the airport

the unique buildings, old and new, would become one of my favorite things to photograph, along with little kids. always playing. not even realizing their incredible, and sometimes completely unbelievable surroundings. i love the kids of jerusalem.

the first kids i saw in israel, swinging back and forth on this old gate

i arrived at the "jerusalem center for near eastern studies" just completely in awe. moments before, i had seen the dome of the rock for the first time. it was such a surreal thing to see it there in the distance. 

my first of many pictures of the golden dome, taken when i first laid my eyes on the spectacle itself

walking in through the center doors was like walking into heaven i think. there were people there to welcome us, the security guards who would come to make me laugh, the allens, the thomas's and the squires.

the view from the building, over-looking the city, is quite possibly the best in the world, and the architecture of the building just accentuates it. it would become a nightly ritual for me (on days when we were at the center) to come out the doors (from where the picture below was taken), watch down the steps that made me feel like i was in a palace, and sit on the grass to watch the sun set over jerusalem. this might be my favorite place in the world, even still. 

taken from the 8th floor of the jerusalem center, in december at sunset

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i made myself at home at the jerusalem center as much as i could in the short time i had to unpack and put the sheets on my bed, and i sent an email home to the family, entitled "best day of my entire life!"

We flew out of Salt Lake City around 9:30 am, and landed about five hours later. We waited at JFK for about 4 hours and then took our 10 hour flight to Tel Aviv, arriving at 3:30 Israel time. I just can't get enough of everything there is to see. Ramadan started yesterday and it goes for the whole month so there are tons of fireworks going and they sound like bombs. i love it. it looks like christmas, everyone has all these lights up and the view from the center is AMAZING! everyone's speaking hebrew and arabic and it's music to my ears. 

we're 9 hours ahead of you, so it's 11, and i'm going to bed. it's been a very long day, and it's been AMAZING! you should all be ridiculously jealous.

me with my new jerusalem center issued backpack in the place that would be my bedroom for the next few months

the view from my bedroom - a view i have come to miss so much

it took me a while to fall asleep that night. my body had no idea what time it was, and i couldn't stop telling myself, "you're here. you're really here. finally."

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i wouldn't sleep long though... prayer call came at 4 am. 

al-hamdalallah. 

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aziza takes a stroll down memory lane

i created this blog because i've been feeling nostalgic for the middle east lately. i wanted to have a blog while i was there (september - december 2008) but as it turns out, there was no time. i had to see everything and do as much as possible. 

it's been nine months since i arrived in tel aviv, and i think it's just about time for a little stroll down memory lane. 

this is mainly for me. i just want to have my memories recorded in a concise way, with my many pictures interspersed. there won't be a lot of history, politics, or facts in this blog. it's about funny stories, interesting circumstances, and incredible situations and surroundings. 

i'm also kind of curious to see how long it will take me to chronicle these three and a half months of life-changing bliss. hopefully i'll finish before april 2010, when i'll become pre-occupied with updating the world on my new middle-eastern adventures in Jordan... i think i'll actually keep that blog as i go instead of having to back-track like this. 

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*why 'aziza' you may ask? it's simple. my friend derek informed me, while looking through an arabic-english dictionary aboard an egyptian air flight from cairo to luxor, that the town of bethany, was called al-azariye in arabic. 

photograph of the actual page, as a learned my name in arabic for the very first time, on september 23, 2008

since my name is bethany, we decided that my name in arabic must be azariye. it became my name over the next few months, and eventually we found out that al-azariye is just the arabic adaptation of lazarion... (after lazarus, who was raised from the dead there) the name the town had been given a few hundred years earlier. after i had come home and decided to study arabic, we were told to pick an arabic name to go by in class. ustaaz ahmed gave us a list of names. i knew deep down that i couldn't be azariye. it was really a boy's name... and maybe not even a real arabic name at all. aziza was on the list, and i thought it sounded like a cute nick-name that a strange girl called azariye would maybe go by. so i picked it. 

and so, i think for the rest of my life, at least in arabic, i shall be aziza.

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