Yes, we got the visas. It's been very busy the past few days. Mostly traveling but at least things have been going smoothly. This is going to be a fairly lengthy post, but it should be worth so hang in there, we'll do this together.

For starters here are a few pictures of our 4 hour bus ride through the Negev. Not much to look at but it was still pretty interesting.





We made it to Eilat and quickly found a taxi to the border crossing at Taba. The military stopped our taxi just before we got to the crossing saying there was a "suspicious" obeject and that we had to wait for everything to be cleared. After a 15 minute wait we continued through security and found ourselves in Egypt. It was at this point that I wished I knew more Arabic. If I had known more Arabic maybe we wouldn't have gotten hosed on our ride from Taba to Dahab. Although we paid more than what we would have liked to, we were just glad to get to Dahab.

Once in Dahab, we were greeted with a warm welcome and a free drink. If you can picture a place right by the shore where people don't really do anything but relax, that's Dahab. One of the hostel employees, Eminem, was super nice. He's our age and we had a few chances to just sit and chat with him. In general, people at the hostel were great.

Now for some pictures. This is a view into the desert from our window.



And this was out our other window; the Red Sea.



Ah, dinner by the shore. Trust me, the black abyss of nothingness is actually the Red Sea. This was such a nice place to relax, especially after our visa troubles and traveling.



From Dahab we boarded a bus for Cairo. Desert. Desert. Desert. 10 hours of desert. But at least we were able to catch the sunset on the other side of Sinai. You can just make out the Red Sea in this picture. Yes, the same Red Sea that Moses parted all those years ago. I can't imagine coming up out of the parted sea and seeing the desert. There is literally nothing but sand and rock.



Cairo is a mess of a city. 25 million people. After breakfast at the hostel we headed out with a tour guide to visit a few places in the city. First, the Egyptian Museum.



You'll have to excuse me for the poor quality of this next picture. They wouldn't let us take our cameras into the museum, so what did I do, took pictures with my phone. I present to you the mask of King Tutankhamun.



No, we didn't see the mummies. That was a separate fee and I wasn't eager enough to spend $20 to see dried up dead people. There were plenty of other things to see.

Right outside the museum.



Next we went to the Citadel to visit the mosque of Muhammad Ali. No, not the boxer.



This where you would wash your hands and face before entering the mosque.



Pictures will never be able to capture the grandeur of this building.



The domes were absolutely unbelievable.



Ryan admiring the architecture, or at least pretending to.



This was the view from outside the mosque. This is only one of four pictures that I'll merge into a panoramic view of the city. We were able to just make out the pyramids in the distance. It's much too smoggy to make it out in this picture but you can try. They would be on the left side. Good luck.



A view of the market. Tons of souvenirs. Very similar to the Old City in Jerusalem.



The tour guide took us to one of her friend's shops to do a little souvenir hunting. He was a good dude, but man could that guy bargain. I'm sure he's really good at ripping people off but he gave us a "good deal". They always say that so I'm not sure how good of a deal I got. Oh well, I'm not too concerned because Egypt is cheap either way. Take for example our dinner; 2 large pizzas and 4 drinks. The total cost was $16 making the meal $4 per person. What a steal!

Tomorrow, the pyramids. Get ready for tons of pictures.

Take care.

Let the adventure begin.

Let me start by saying that I'm really not fond of Tel Aviv, but our trip there today was necessary in order to get our visas to Egypt. After taking a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, we hopped in a taxi and soon arrived at the Egyptian Embassy. We thought that we would be in and out because we had already filled out visa forms from the internet.

How wrong we were.

First, we needed real passport photos for the application. We were anticipating this but had no idea how long this would actually take. After getting some advice from a couple British guys at the embassy we took off in search of a photo place. We walked about 5 blocks and asked for some assistance and were told that we needed to walk 10 blocks back the way we just came. After about 7 blocks we checked the time, 10:10, and turned our power walk into a jog. Oh, did I forget to mention the embassy was only open from 9 am - 11 am?

Yeah.

It was 10:20 and we had our pictures in hand. Frantically, we ran back to the embassy and handed our papers in only to be confronted with several more obstacles. We had to fill out another form, looked just the like one we had already filled out, and we needed a photo copy of our passports and Hebrew University student cards. It was 10:45, but luckily there was a place on the corner to make copies. After paying a ridiculous price for copies we shoved our papers to the Arab man in the glass booth. He had one more hoop for us to jump through. Along the side of the application he wanted us to write down our university and what we were studying. 10:58 and finally we had meet all the requirements and just needed to pay. With cash everywhere, I just grabbed the largest bills in front of me and handed it to the Arab man in the glass booth. In return he handed me a little yellow ticket and said, "Come back tomorrow to pick up your visa." 11:00. Slam. He shut the blinds.

What. You have got to be kidding me. We ran up and down the street to find pictures, meet all of the outrageous requirements, and you want us to do what?!?

Come back tomorrow.

So tomorrow we are going back to Tel Aviv, getting our Visas, and this time tomorrow we should be in Egypt. This story was much more stressful in real life, but I hope I was able to convey how crazy of a day it was. I'll try to keep this updated during the trip whenever I can get online so keep checking back.

Until next time, take care.

Finally. A new post. Get ready, this is going to be a long one.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Hebron in the West Bank. We were visiting various tombs that are in the area and let me tell you, it was quite an experience.

Yep, this is normal in this area. The road was surrounded with concert walls on both sides and Israeli military was everywhere.



This is inside Rachel's tomb. Many Jews come here to pray and for the longest time the tomb was closed because of the danger. Shootings were once a daily occurrence but now the tomb looks more like a fortress and is protected by the military.




Our next stop was the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This dude means business.



As we walked up to the tomb entrance I tried to be as candid as possible. Success? The building is actually half mosque and the other half is devoted to the tombs. Needless to say, things can be pretty tense sometimes.



Once inside, we made our way through a few halls and came to central location with the tombs. The actual tombs were originally found underneath the building, but supposedly the current location of the tombs are directly above where they were first discovered. As we were walking around a little Israeli man started speaking to me in Hebrew. I had no idea what he was saying other than he mentioned "blessing". He then prompted me to light a candle and then asked for money. As crafty as he was, I told him I didn't have any money and walked away.

Praying at the tombs.



At this point of our visit we made our way through the streets to visit a few synagogues and a center were they study the Torah. Here a few pictures from the streets.

Ridin' bikes.






This building is devoted to studying/learning Torah. People come here in there free time to learn and we were here to go to the roof to get a better view of Hebron.



You know, hanging out on the roof. The view was fantastic and we were up there just as the sun was setting, which made it all the more beautiful.



A view from the roof.



I was explaining to Ryan how to take good pictures. I mean it's not like you can ever take a bad picture of me, but you understand. Here I'm explaining the finer points taking pictures when you're on a roof. Actually, I have no idea what I was talking about.



The following weekend some friends and I went on a hike in the hills just west of Jerusalem. Here's a view from the start of our hike. We would then spend the rest of the day hiking to the hills you see in the distance.



No, we didn't go alone. We had a tour guide, Mickey, and here he is explaining something about nature.




Another picture of our guide explaining something about nature. Trees perhaps?



The guide asked us to bring flashlights and shoes to get wet and that can only mean one thing. Fresh water springs. That dark entrance is actually an entrance to fun.



One by one we made our way into the tunnel.



Some climbing required.



This semi-cave was completely black, but thanks to a few headlamps and flashlights we were able to explore a little. Unfortunately is was only about the size of classroom.



Time to leave. More tunnels ahead.



The next spring tunnel we explored was much different than the first. Mickey warned us to take only our flashlights. Why? Because we had to wade through waist deep water to find the end of the tunnel. Imagine a space the size of a small walk-in closet. Now make the ceiling 4ft and add water up to your waist. We had about 12 people in this space listening to Mickey tell a love story. Good times, good times.

Some pictures of the view on the last leg of our journey.






We made it and after our long hike we came to a picnic area and made pita from scratch. This is some pita cooking action. It was delicious and now I'm making my own pita back at the apartment. In fact last night for dinner had chicken ad veggies wrapped in homemade pita. Delicious.



All of us were dead tired and I spent the rest of the day sitting around and resting. This past weekend I went on Shabbaton (vacation-esque trip for shabbat) to the Galilee region. It was much different than I was expecting, but I still had a great time. We ended up visiting a kibbutz (collective community, it's hard to explain, hit up wikipedia) and took part in the prayers for shabbat. It was different, but I really enjoyed it. The food was great and when we weren't praying or having little learning workshops, we were hanging out by the pool. No, I don't have pictures. Sorry, but I'm sure you can imagine me laying by a pool. It's not too hard.

I know, this post was long overdue, but thanks for hanging in there and reading the whole thing. Ulpan is almost over, which means our big traveling trip is almost here. I'll have tons and tons of pictures from that and I'll most definitely be better at keeping this updated.

Until next time, take care.

Busy weekend.

5h Annual Jerusalem Beer Festival!

Let's just say it was quite the experience. Each year the beers of Israel gather together for one giant festival. So naturally, we decided to check it out. I tried (tried = sip) about 5 different kinds of beer, none of which I found very impressive. They had a big concert later in the evening. Everything was in Hebrew, but whoever the band was they must have been pretty well known cause all the Israelis knew the words.



Ryan and Marissa at the beer festival.



The beer festival was Thursday evening and Friday morning we (7 total) were off to Tel Aviv for the rest of the weekend. After many long bus rides we eventually found our way to the hostile. We dropped our bags and went out to explore the city. Tel Aviv seems to be like any other big city on the coast. Cities like that are nice to visit, but I'm glad I don't live there.

That evening we ate at a sea side bar and grill. Hands down the best meal I've had since I've been here. Mmm cheese burger.



And this was our view as we enjoyed our meal. This was the first sunset over the water I had ever seen. Wow, was it beautiful.



Later that night went to the beach to just sit and chat. We took the evening pretty easy cause we had a pretty big day planned for Saturday. Ryan, Josh and I were up before the girls and we were off to Jaffo (Joppa). It was about a 30 min walk from the hostile but it was totally worth it.

Here is a picture looking back to Tel Aviv as we walked to Joppa.



Yes, this is the same Joppa that is in the Bible. Jonah was swallowed by a whale here and Peter had a vision. Nothing like that happened to us while we were there, but we still had a good time exploring and such.

That's Joppa right on the coast and the tower is part of St. Peter's church.



Here's the inside of St. Peter's church.



Not a lot was happening in Joppa because of Shabbat, but that just gave us more privacy to roam around where ever we wanted.

Josh and Ryan as we made our way down to the port of Joppa. As you can see, it's very similar to the architecture in the Old City.



After walking back to the hostile we met back up with the girls and had lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming and lying around on the beach. Eventually we made it back to Jerusalem and I'll be honest, I feel more at home here in Jerusalem than I did in Tel Aviv. I guess it's a good thing I picked Hebrew U.

Take care.

Another trip to the Old City.

This past weekend Ryan, Marrisa and I went to the Old City for some more exploring. Trust me, there's so much to see in this city. Sometimes I wonder even if an entire semester will be enough to see everything that Jerusalem offers. Not to mention the rest of Israel of even the surrounding area.

Now to the pictures. This is the other dome inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.



Next, we took a short walk over to the Church of the Redeemer.



After paying the price of 5 shekels ($1.25), we were able to climb to the top of the tower and look out over the entire Old City. The spiral staircase was incredibly tiny and it took forever to get to the top, but it was totally worth it.

Here you can see the two domes of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from the outside. Yes, it's really buried that deep within the city. It's architectural beauty is definitely found on the inside considering you can't really see the outside.



If you look closely on the left side of the picture you're able to see my apartment complex on the horizon. And on the right side is Hebrew University. Yes, I walk that every day.



This is to hopefully put the Western Wall in relation to Dome of the Rock. In case you were wondering, Dome of the Rock is that big shiny gold dome. If you follow the line of trees coming out from the right side you will see a blue roof. Right next to that is the Western Wall.



I hope you've enjoyed this round of pictures. Ryan and I have so much more exploring to do. Garden of Gethsemane, David's City, Western Wall Tunnels, David's City Tunnels, just to name a few and that's only Jerusalem. Many more pictures are yet to come, so be ready.

Take Care.