So my darling friend Cassidy Bronson wrote me an email with a few questions about Jerusalem I figured others might be curious to know the answers to these too, so I decided to just post them.
1. What is the weather like
This has been the coldest and wettest winter they have had in Jerusalem in ten years apparently. I've been freezing cold here. They did not prepare us for weather this chilly. All i brought was "a light jacket" because they told us "it can get chilly in the late evenings." Chilly my frozen nubs! Every now an then, the rain has come down as snow, but never enough to even hit the ground as snow. The wind howls sometimes and is so loud. Its funny because, even though the bedrooms are all attached to the same building, we have courtyards that we have to go to get to them. So there is no roof from my room to the main stairway and the whole rest of the building. So, even if i do my hair, if its raining in the morning, i get wet on my way to breakfast. But because of all the rain, everything is gorgeous green. Lush grasses and little yellow flowers dot the hills everywhere. Also, the last couple of weeks, the air has been super hazy and not clear at all. we can barely even seen the city from our balconies. I figure out its because of all the smoke. They have these huge, metal dumpsters everywhere here where people put their trash. Then when it is too full, they burn it in the dumpsters. We often walk past them on our way to the city. It is not a pleasant smell AT ALL.....I didn't want to have to do this...but.. Here comes the smolder. Ok, Your turn...can you make a smolder while smelling a smoldering diaper? Didn't think so.
2. Who are your best friends?
Everyone here is my best friend. I seriously love the social dynamics here because anyone can sit down next to anyone else and feel perfectly accepted and comfortable. Free time is great because I don't have to make any plans or anything, I just find a group of random people and either go in to the city or do something else and no matter what, I have a ton of fun. My roommates are great fun too. We love to tell stories and chat late at night. We can be goofier and silly in our rooms. I go out with SJ often and she blogs about it. (sjcurtis.blogspot.com) My visiting teachers are the greatest and I feel pretty close to them. We've done a few fun things outside of the city. (see cave crusaders) and we had a girls night the other day and did our nails and told all about our love lives. I don't know everyone's life stories yet, but I feel I do know quite a bit about everyone. I'm sure by the end of the semester we'll all know everyone really really well.
3. What is My favorite place?
so far, my favorite place to go is the garden tomb it is in the city but not inside the old city walls. I feel the spirit so strong there. And i'm a big nature freak. I like the garden and the trees there. I sketched a picture of an ancient olive tree. I'm having fun drawing lots of things i see, especially plants, because i haven't had my own camera that works. Its great. My other favorite place to go is this shop in the old city owned by these two brothers Nassir and Nabir. they are really friendly and love us Mormons. They give us really good deals and have given me and my roommate lots of free gifts. Nabir helped me make a pair of earrings from the sea shells i picked up in Tel Aviv.
4. What is some thing i've learned about the Arab culture
well, about the arab culture... most of the stuff i'm learning, i get from my Arabic professor. I know a little bit about the language. Arabic has a gorgeous script but its unlikely i'll learn how to write it because its kind of complex and we only have a 14 class periods with Ayman anyway. one reason that Arabic is so very pretty is because it has developed into a form of art for the islamic culture. In the religion of Islam, engraved images i.e. art or painting of anything living, is forbidden. There is arabic art, but a lot of it is in the form of glorious architecture and geometric patterns. And the script of course. I'm in a class on Islam and Palestine and I wrote a midterm paper on the emergence of islam into the religious conflict of the arabian peninsula. It taught me a lot about the history and context of Islam, but I wouldn't bore you with my academic writing. Also, one thing about Arab culture is that they are all very friendly. They truly are helpful and care about people. They are defensive of strangers and if ever anyone is being harassed or is in trouble, nearby arabs will jump to your aid.
5. What are some similarities between Islam and Mormonism
One thing that i thought was really cool was something our tour guide in Jordan told us. Mohamed was the name of the man who took us through Jordan. On the last day, his son Odai came along with us. Odai is 23 and majoring in mechanical engineering. He was easy to talk to and kyle and i asked Odai about what its like to be a youth in jordan. One thing we asked him was whether he had a girl friend or not. He and his father explained to us that relationships are actually forbidden in their religion. This kind of took us by surprise until Odai explained that he believes "virginity is a nobility not a lack of opportunity." we understood that he was taking the term "girlfriend" in the Hollywood and worldly sense rather than the innocent meaning we know it it be. He dates and has a girl he likes, she just isn't his "girlfriend". We told him that it is the same for us too, we think the same thing about marriage and abstinence. We asked him if he was going to marry this girl soon, he laughed and said, "probably not. I don't think i'll get married soon." we asked him when then, and he said "not till after i'm thirty" which made all us Mormons guffaw and laugh and stare at him like he was absolutely bonkers. They explained to us that the believe it is the man's duty to care for and support his family and they don't usually get into a marriage relationship until they are absolutely certain they can guarantee that. So you graduate and get a career and a home and once you're absolutely stable, then you think about marriage. Women marry pretty late too. they get educations.
So there are some answers to some questions. Its easy to think of things to write when there are questions to answer...
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