12 June 2011

The sixth game of the NBA Finals, Mavericks vs. Heat, is tonight at eight o’clock, Eastern Standard Time. The Mavericks are currently ahead by one game (3-2). I would encourage everyone to watch this game tonight (cheering for the Mavs, of course), especially since if they win tonight, they win it all! A few of us have considered waking up at three o’clock in the morning to watch it. Whether or not that will actually happen has yet to have been determined…mainly because college students like sleep, and we never get any. All of you, watch the game! Now, onto other items of business. . .

It was a field trip day here in Jerusalem. Along with my fellow J.C.-ians, I spent the day in the Shfelah of Israel. Shfelah can be translated as ‘low hills’. Israel is a gradual mountain, to put it simply. It begins at sea level where it grows into the coastal plains, low hills, and higher areas such as plateaus, rifts, and mountains. The Shfelah, in Biblical times, was a land of constant war and disaster for many of the Israelite cities. Composed of five major valleys (Aijalon, Sorek, Elah, Gurvin, and Lachish) and five major fortresses (Gezer, Beth Shemesh, Azekah, Maresha, and Lachish – one for each valley), the Shfelah was a ‘hot’ commodity amongst Biblical peoples, especially the Philistines.

We began our journey in the Valley of Gurvin, where we visited the hometown of the giant, Goliath: Gath. Professor Chadwick is in charge of a team of excavators at this particular site, so he spent the time there telling us of its history and of the different areas he has excavated. His enthusiasm and excitement over the site made everyone excited! From Gath we headed to the Bell Caves which were Byzantine quarries for limestone. This limestone is basically a fine powder pressed together; it can be scratched with your fingernail! As such, it can be quarried and used to create plaster; this plaster can, in turn, be used for the inside of cisterns to help hold the water. The caves were really fun to run around in. We sang a couple of hymns together as a group (Redeemer of Israel and Come, Follow Me) and then Joan and I sang How Great Thou Art together; I found out about this two minutes or so prior to singing, but we pulled it off quite well. Singing is something I know I can’t mess up too horribly! (I have my mom to thank for that. Thanks Mom!) We left the Bell Caves and went to the base of Maresha where we explored some Sidonian Tombs. That was awesome! I was crawling around, in and out of tombs, like there was no tomorrow. Of course, I was covered in dirt by the time I exited the tombs, but it was worth it! I had enough time to get a popsicle which was beyond needed. It was a very warm and humid day in the Shfelah.

We left the Gurvin Valley and for Lachish in the Lachish Valley. Lachish is Brother Muhlestein’s favorite Shfelah city. He was so funny. This city was besieged by the Assyrians in 701 B.C. We reenacted this…to an extent. The Israelites did end up falling to the Assyrians, unfortunately. That seemed to happen more often than not to the poor Israelites. They just couldn’t stop those Assyrians! It was at Lachish that I was attack by barbed wire and got a nice tear in my pant leg…luckily, Sister Jackson can work wonders on a sewing machine and these aren’t pants I am planning on keeping once I get home.

The Elah Valley was our next destination. We wandered into the actual valley where David slew Goliath. Yeah, that’s right. Are you jealous, yet? Haha it was so much fun. We were all given slings where we pretended to slay Goliath. The story was also reenacted. Brother Muhlestein’s daughter, Sabrina, played David. Morgan played Goliath. It was the best reenactment I have ever seen! Sabrina is five years old; Morgan is six foot four. You can imagine the height difference. It was awesome. My sling skills definitely weren’t up to par. I will have to practice those at some point! We next headed up to Azekah, where we got a view of the Elah Valley. From the Elah, we went over to the Sorek Valley for a quick jaunt up to Beth Shemesh. It was a quick stop, seeing as it was late in the afternoon, but it was pretty cool. We didn’t end up getting back to the Jerusalem Center until after six o’clock at night! It was such a long day, considering the fact that we left bright and early at seven o’clock, but it was well worth it! The field trips just keep getting better and better. And, we have another tomorrow! Really, can life get any better than this?

Unfortunately, my toe wasn’t exactly happy about walking around all day. I stuck it out like a man, though, and kept the pain to myself unless I was asked. I didn’t want it to hold anyone back! It probably didn’t help that I played volleyball tonight, but it was the tournament and I couldn’t let my team down! We lost. But that’s okay. It was still fun. The rest of the evening was spent watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the Student Lounge, browsing through pictures, and not doing much else. (Maybe I’ll call my parents now so I can add it to my list of fun activities this evening!) I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, when we’ll go to the City of David and go through Hezekiah’s Tunnel!