Important Things To Know At The JC: Part I

How many places can you get a Flake candy bar for one shekel?

One. 

And it's right down the street. (At the "Seven to Eleven")

They also have 3 shekel Cokes, 3.5 shekel mini magnum bars, and 2 shekel Kinders.

So what do I do?

I both try really hard to go every day, and try really hard not to go every day. 

OKAY. Now is the time to introduce Part I of "Important Things To Know At The JC"

1. I have found that becoming friends with security is the single most important way to succeed at the center. 

They will give you secret hints, tell you where to go for fun stuff, and tease you when you pass them. The same is true for staff children. 

2. I have a lot of homework all the time, but I only do that which is necessary to pass/ maybe get a B/ it's okay to get an A in Old and New Testament. Don't waste too much time on the others.  

3. Do laundry two days before a trip, not the day before. Or else prepare yourself for an student/dirty clothing tornado. Also, if you find that you have accidentally left your clothing in the laundry room on the Sabbath, don't fret. Simply go through the back door, which is almost always unlocked. 

4. It is cold here in the winter. Bring a jacket. 

5. Wear slippers. 

6. Do homework on the grass on the 7th level. Watch views on the deck on the 8th level. 

7. Find the secret children's library. 

8. Don't buy things for the first month. After that, if you see something you LOVE, buy it. 

9. Rent bikes to go around the Western part of the city. You can get them here.

10. Bring sufficient school supplies. The same stuff that you would want in Provo. It's much more expensive here. 

11. Bring a small water bottle/canteen thing. They give you 2 Liter water bottles here. I am not an elephant and I do not need that much water. 

12. Just get through Old Testament without complaing too much. New Testament makes all of that worth it. 

That's all for now. I will think of more... 

Halloween

Halloween here at the center was great.

We watched Phantom of the Opera (the silent version) with the center's CRAZY organ in the background.

Our branch president is the organist and he is absolutely AMAZING. 

This organ is the second largest in all of Israel I think. 

Sunday hymns are better than you've ever heard em. 

Afterwards there were treats and a dance. 

Costumes at the center are pretty limited, so everyone got really creative. 

From David & Bathsheba to a humanitarian kit to kitties and camels

There was quite a variety

Two other girls (named Taylor and Taylor - not a typo) and I decided to dress up as our friends - Andrew and Jeff -and I dressed up as Taylor (yes I hang out with 3 different Taylors)...

(Unfortunately I do not have a picture with all of them - but someone else does)
With the help of their gracious roommates we were able to steal all of their clothes and shoes and things the night before. They had no idea. 

Jordan

I expected Jordan to be a lot of rocks.

I wasn't wrong, but it was fun anyways! 

Except for the diarrhea plague that hit half of the center when we got back. 

TMI? Well, that's just what happens when you go to foreign countries. 

When you go to Jordan, you will get to talk about poop too. 

Mt. Nebo 

The Dead Sea from Mt. Nebo with Israel across the way

The Petra Treasury! and a camel. Whoever took this is silly. 

Some mosque. I forget the name. 

Jabbok River, where Jacob "wrestled" with the angel, saw God face to face, and  was given the name Israel. 

I like it a lot

I did something crazy. K not that crazy. I bought an olive wood sculpture that was kind of on the expensive side. I won't go in to details. But here is what the original Greg Olsen painting looks like. And here is a picture of my sculpture...

Pretty huh? I love it but I still have to get over how much it costed. One day, I will forget about that. That's why I'm not going to say it on here. 

Remember this picture?

Here is the real thing! Except I'm not flying... darn. 

The Phoenician Tombs. Who knew they liked to be buried with their Cokes back in the day? 

West J. Always lovely.

Dear Family, what if I got these for each of you (each sibling/family I mean, and mom)? They are about 6-7 inches tall. Your thoughts?

The Good News

I finally got to download the Switchfoot album.
And I'm listening to it right now.
And I'm in love with "Thrive" and "Souvenirs"

Assos

Blows your mind doesn't it?

A few more pictures

At the Garden of Gethsemane (notice I have been embracing the curl - finally)

At Ephesus - one of my favorite places of the Turkey trip

Taylor tries so hard to plank - but he just can't do it. How will he ever fit in to today's modern day image of "cool"?

LETTERS

So, a girl here had the great idea to post on her blog that she wanted letters. This is me copying her. I realize that this is sad for two reasons, one that I am copying her and two that I am begging people for letters. But nothing joys me more than to see a good thick letter sitting in my mailbox on the 6th floor. It's like seeing puppies or kittens or white chocolate with almond magnum bars (which I have not seen since arriving back in Israel). Also, pretty soon I will be having midterms. I will begin studying for them... oh wait already started. Ya it's not even October and I am studying for midterms. Sure they are only term classes, but this is just sad. So commiserate with me a little and send me some lovin.

Well, like I said, anyone who would like to spend a little dollar to write me a good hearty letter, you know I would enjoy it thoroughly. I would also enjoy a nice sized package (cough, mom) with some Rips candy and maybe some sour punch straws. I am good on the chocolate (they have Kinder and Milka here, enough said) but the sour stuff is lacking. I also miss Chick-fil-A and Dr Pepper (but those probably don't travel well) and seedless grapes (but a good package never leaves room for fruit). That is all.

Finalmente

The view of Greece and the Mediterranean as we flew in.

From the "viewpoints of Jerusalem" field trip. Rockin the fanny pack.

Sorry my faithful blog followers. joke. Hi mom. Here are some pictures for you guys to enjoy.

Okay So it is now lke 2 weeks since I first started that post, and again I am truly sorry. I have failed as a blogger and as a human. Many apologies. I try to upload pics and then I get too lazy because it takes years. So from now on I will try to get at least one or two pictures in and then just write about stuff.
So I just got back from Turkey last night. It was AMAZING. Seriously, I would love to go back to Turkey again so that I can spend some real time with my Byzantine friends in Istanbul. It is truly beautiful there, the people are friendly, and the Magnum bars are plentiful. Or they were until the JC students got there.
Some highlights of the trip...

• Assos was one of my favorite places. It was gorgeous and I got some amazing pictures there that I will surely edit and try to get up on here.
• Ephesus was also very cool. Almost an entire city that is still there (in ruins of course). The library was my favorite part of that. I also enjoyed singing Hercules songs as we walked around because it just feels like you're in the movie, dangit.
• We stayed in one hotel that had conditioner. What the heck. Who knew the Easterners cared so little about the maintenance of shiny, silky hair
• Like I said earlier, Magnum bars galore. But what I really enjoyed was the Milka chocolate and a Coke. Excellent combination? Oh yeah. Baklava was high on the "Delicious" list too, along with kabobs and some (definitely not all) forms of Turkish Delight.
• We spent most of our trip either driving on the bus or looking at rocks. My favorite statement of the trip "Look, rocks!" Because it applied in any and all situations. Sorry to complain about being in Turkey but uh, how many barely-there ruins can a person really look at, ya know?
• Pamukkale is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Google it. Right now. K now book a flight to Turkey and go there.

Me, Taylor, and Allyson at Hierapolis  

Boating across the Mediterranean

And a shoutout to the cutest baby alive Camryn Annette, my new niece.  

I AM HERE

And it is the best thing of my life.
I got here on Sunday night and was greeted by a Brother and Sister Bentley, a really amazing service couple here at the center. We waited a little bit longer for another group to get there and made the hour-ish trip from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We got here and took a quick tour of the center which is BEAUTIFUL. Holy cow, the pictures do not do it justice. The view from the auditorium that we have sacrament meeting in is breathtaking. When they opened the curtains for us and we could see the beautiful view of the city, I think everyone teared up a little bit. My roommates were asleep but they were so nice to make my bed for me so I just had to unpack and get into my premade bed! The next morning we had a delicious breakfast, then left on our first field trip. We went to a few different lookout spots so that we could familiarize ourselves with the city and know the names of the valleys and cities within the city and so on. We then came back to delicious pita pizza, then had our first couple of classes. After that little nap (sad, I am still so jet lagged that I slept through half of both of my classes), all of those who arrived the day before went out on the Jerusalem Orientation Tour. We walked for about 2 and a half hours through East Jerusalem and then through West Jerusalem - which look like two completely different cities by the way - and familiarized ourselves with some of the streets and shops throughout.
I have class, be back later...

Today we had lots of classes. All of my teachers are really nice and interesting and I am really excited to learn A LOT. Because it sounds like A LOT of work so I will obviously learn A LOT. A LOT.

I also went out into the Old City with a couple of other people. We just walked around and went into some residential areas which I really loved. They're a little quieter and the people say hi to you and stuff. We live in the muslim quarter so we try to use some Arabic phrases with them. There's one greeting that sounds like "Salami Bacon" So I just say it fast and people get what I'm saying. We also got some shekels and sweated like pigs all the way up the giant hill back to the center. (It is literally uphill both ways.) I will post pictures as soon as my laptop starts working. It won't connect to the internet here for some reason.

I also took the best Jerusalem nap of my life. I fell asleep on top of a bunch of stuff on my bed and almost slept through dinner. It was a great experience. I will definitely take more Jerusalem naps in the future.

*A little side note, after being in Guatemala a couple of weeks ago, I developed the habit of speaking spanish to people who don't speak my language. It seems to be a habit that has followed me to Jerusalem. Unfortunately the people here do not speak spanish. I need to learn some Hebrew fast...

US Suckways

Aftos!
I think...
I am in Athens, Greece. It's pretty... pretty.
I should probably be in Tel Aviv right now, or at least almost in Tel Aviv.
Our flight from Philly was delayed and so we didn't get here in time to catch our Athens to Tel Aviv flight. We are now flying to Istanbul and then to Tel Aviv. Hooray. Heavenly Father is really making us work for this trip. I am just exhausted. I have had about 6 hours of sleep in the last.. I don't even know if it's 48 hours. I am just tired.... I want to be in Jerusalem already.

Note to self as well as all friends and neighbors: DON'T EVER USE US AIRWAYS IF YOU CAN AVOID IT,

I can fly! but not til Saturday

I am pleased to announce that I did indeed get my new flight plans to Israel. About half of the kids here are leaving today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday), then I go on Saturday and the rest leave after me. There are 51 of us stuck here, by the way. I have a one hour layover in Athens. Prettay cool. Kinda wish I had been stuck there instead of here in hell Phoenix.

We're HERE!!! Wait...

Well, I am in Israel.

Just kidding, I am sitting in the Phoenix airport. Our flight to Philly is delayed and we may not make it to Israel until Thursday.

Sweet.

(Me and Ally in the airport)

Packing is Stressful

It makes me want to blog more than pack.

Good thing I have Mumford and his sons to keep me calm.

Also, 3 hair dryers and 4 straighteners later, I have found the dual voltage hair tools that I am bringing to Jerusalem with me.

You could say that I'm a little bit picky about the way that I destroy my hair with heat.

AH. I can't believe I am leaving home tomorrow.

Welcome friends, Americans, and muggles alike

This is my Jerusalem blog that I have officially begun in order to keep you all updated on my life in the J-Rooster. (Un)fortunately Facebook is blocked and I will not have a phone, but you can email me at jaclynshef@hotmail.com or write to me at:

BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies
Jaclyn Sheffield
P.O. Box 19604
Jerusalem, 91196
Israel

I am currently trying to complete my large amount of packing. I fly out this Saturday to go to Utah for the orientation meeting on Monday. The whole group of us will then fly out on Tuesday. I can't believe it's this soon.

Current packing conditions indicate that there may have been a hurricane of sorts (only on my bed) and a complete lack of items actually in suitcases.