Here we go... 2012

Well, it isn't exactly midnight but an occasion such as New Year's Eve calls for a blog post.

I don't know exactly where to start or even where to end. 

But I suppose that "c'est la vie,"- it's not quite a movie that simply begins and ends.

It is more like a series of ups and downs, happy and sad instances, and everything in between strung together by years, days, minutes, and seconds.

And let me tell you: I am so ready for this new year.

2011 was challenging for me. It challenged me in ways I could have never imagined.

However each and every challenge was just what I needed.

I feel like I grew immensely this year because of trials which forced me to look inside and behind. 

Because that is exactly where what we need is: inside and behind.

Looking inside allowed me to find out what I really want (for now), and looking behind allowed me to deal with things I had previously ignored which greatly affected me.

Nevertheless if I had to choose one principle to focus on for 2011 it would be HONESTY.

Honesty with God, myself, and others.

Taking a problem, sweeping it under a rug, and pretending like it is not there simply gives it more power.

However when we are honest with God, ourselves, and others, trials which burden us stop holding us back and start setting us free.

Through honesty we allow ourselves to become the kind of people we want to be.

No more pretending is required when we are honest.

We are allowed to be what we want because we accept what we are through it [honesty].

We release negative thoughts and actions when we acknowledge them and work through them because we take away their power, allowing others to do the same.

So if I had one hope for this upcoming year it would be that continual honesty, challenges, and growth would follow me.

I am so grateful for EVERYTHING that has happened this year, both the "good" and the "bad," because it has made me who I am today and taught me thousands of lessons I will continue to carry with me forever.

I am also grateful for the people I have been blessed with this year.

Every single one has taught me something important and simply been there for me when I needed it most.

You may or may not know who you are or how you improved my life, but you have.

Thanks 2011.

You were a tough one, but great.

2012 can only get better.

Bring it on. I got bangs.

Past two weeks

This is what I have been up to for the past two weeks:

Friday - Dec 9th

Last day in Amman

Church in Amman

Saturday - 10th

Cross border early

Masada

(Jericho (fast

lunch-Jericho

Cable Car

Hisham’s Palace

STAY AT CONVENT IN NAZARETH

Sunday - 11th

Sephoris

Akko

Crusader Ruins

New Excavations

Prison Tour

Haifa

Bahai Promenande

Beach

NAZ CONVENT

Monday - 12th

Nazareth Churches

Nazareth Village

Nazareth Assignment

NAZ CONVENT

Tuesday - 13th

Banyas+Waterfall

Tel Dan

Druze Restaurant in

Pikiin (with talk)

Golan

EIN GEV/ HOTEL

Wednesday - 14th

Galilee Churches

Boat Ride

 LDS Church

Tiberias

Baptismal Site

EIN GEV/ HOTEL

Thursday - 15th

Bet Alpha

Megiddo

Um Al-Fahm

Kibbutz Ein Shemer

(eat falafil there)

 Ceasaria

(arrive after dinner)

JERUSALEM CENTER

Friday - 16th

Via Dolorosa

Cardo

Damascus Gate

Arab City

Western Wall

JERUSALEM CTR

Saturday - 17th

Church at Jer Ctr

Gethsemane

Garden Tomb

Sunday - 18th

Davidson Center

Temple Mount

Kotel tunnel

Bethlehem

Lazarus tomb

Hezekiah’s tunnel

Monday - 19th

Free day

Ben Yahudah St

JERUSALEM CTR

Tuesday - 20th

Field trip with Ophir

Mt. Herzel

Yad Vashem

JERUSALEM CTR

Wednesday - 21st

Tel Aviv: Ben Gur. H

Independence Hall

Jaffa: dinner

more if time

GO TO AIRPORT

Tuesday - 22nd

FLY HOME

Needless to say, it is great to be back and relax. Although spending so much time with such great people on many bus trips was totally worth it.

Nazareth

I am currently writing to you all from the convent we are staying in while in Nazareth.

It is beautiful here and I am in love.

Even though I tend to through around phrases like that pretty liberally, this time I am being completely sincere.

Maybe it has been a while since I have been to Europe, but never before have I ever felt such a strong desire to stay or return to a particular place.

Almost all of my life has been spent wandering, both literally and figuratively, from place to place, country to country, city to city- needless to say I have never felt so at home away from “home.”

Nazareth is a small town full of cobblestone roads, little shops, apartments, houses, and churches everywhere. Within an hour or less you can travel to several holy and historical sites as well as the Mediterranean Sea.

Once again, it is beautiful here and I am in love.

No wonder Palestinians want to come home so badly. I would too if I traded this for Jordan (no offense). 

Maybe I am really romanticizing it since I have only been here for two days, but I certainly did not feel like this in Amman. 

It really is so easy to see why this is the Holy Land and why so many people have, and are, striving to claim it as their own. 

I wish I could somehow claim a part of it too.

I have a strong feeling that I will be coming back to the Palestine/Israel in the future, and I can’t wait to figure out for what reason.

Note: I will be posting pictures as soon as I get home. Uploading pictures on the internet takes forever here. Say tuned!

Packing Up, Moving On

Khalaas. 

This part of my Arabic studies has now come to an end and it is time to stuff my life back into suitcases. 

I love it when my life can fit into a suitcase.

I love traveling, moving, feeling free and unattached... I love it all.

However naturally when you stay in one place for a certain period of time more and more stuff begins to accumulate. 

You sometimes even take unwanted things with you while moving, and before you know it life doesn't fit into a suitcase any longer.

This is both a good and bad phenomenon.
It proves that we naturally take things from around us and carry them with us. It also means that sometimes we carry too much or too little.

That is when the sifting and "cleaning out the closet" comes into play.

As soon as you realize that there is too much going on in your life, it is time to search and see what will fit into your "suitcase" and what you either need to throw away, give away, or even return.

This, however, requires letting go.

It requires letting go with reckless abandon and without a second thought about what others my think. 

It is your closet, your suitcase, and your life after all. 

Things will come and go, but let me tell you- it is impossible to fill your life with new and better things if your closet is full of junk you refuse to get rid of or even look at.

This can be difficult because we don't always want to remember what is hiding in there. We don't always want to sift through the clothes that don't fit anymore, or be reminded of a certain period, relationship, or trial.

But the pain of seeking out those unwanted influences, feelings, and burdens pails in comparison to how good it feels to replace them with new clothes, new surroundings, new people, new lessons learned- all in accordance with the new you.

New can be scary, but when you really think about it, nothing "new" is really "new." 

The process of change is more about discovering who you really are, what you really want, and where you really want to go.

So pack up, throw away liberally, and move on.

You deserve it. 

So do your suitcases and closets.

Jadyn Cherry

Nope, that is not the name of a stripper. That is the name of the girl with which I have spent almost every second of every day here in Jordan. 

She is my twin, a dancer, a ray of sunshine on the coldest of days, and according to my faux OPI recording: “my best friend here in Amman.” 

Currently she is trying not to freak out next to me as she waits for her turn with the real OPI proctor. We are listening to my Itunes’ play list entitled “I can do this” in an attempt to calm her nerves. 

Because she can do this, I know it. 

She will rock it. 

Never before have I met someone who worked so hard and knew so many words. I sometimes even call her my little “qamoos,” which means “dictionary” in Arabic. 

She is a genius. 

Unfortunately she doesn’t always realize this. But after spending so much time with her this semester, she is nothing but one of the greatest people I have ever met. 

She is beautiful, talented, funny, driven, and has big hair. 

What more could anyone want in a friend? 

So Jadyn, I know you are freaking out, but no matter how this OPI goes, none of your great qualities will change. You will still be smart, talented, beautiful, funny, and driven. You will still go places, make people smile, break hearts, fix hearts, and contribute what only you can contribute to this crazy world. 

This OPI means nothing and I know that saying this won’t make you feel better. But trust me when I say that after this half-hour oral test, regardless of how it went, life will go on and it will only get better. 

You are so loved, not only for your ability to always find “free” toilet paper and sugar packets, but mainly because you are a great person.

So please stop thinking about how it went already.

Love you!

Pre-OPI Reflections

Well, the day of reckoning is here. But somehow I don't feel as prepared as I would like to be, seeing as I am currently sipping a theraflu-like drink that tastes like soap in my pj's I haven't washed for the longest time as I try to fight the cold apartment and my body slips into sickness. 

Yet this "unpreparedness" doesn't worry me or stress me out, because at the end of my day today (literally, I have my OPI at 7:00pm tonight) all I want to do is get it done and do my best. 

What a revolutionary thought. 

Part of me feels like this half-hour phone conversation-exam in Arabic is the biggest thing to ever happen to me.
I have been preparing for it since Arabic 101.
Then the other, more dominant half says just that: "you have been preparing for this ever since Arabic 101, AND this past semester has taught you so much," about Arabic, a different culture, and myself. 

What a great gift. So why ruin it or diminish its value by stressing out? 

We'll see how long this healthy mentality lasts today.

1 final down, four to go

I can't wait to:

1) Relax

2) Get a hair cut

3) Get a pedicure

4) Wear skinny jeans

5) Work out every day

6) Celebrate Christmas

7) Eat salad, soup, and fruit

8) Take a shower every day

9) Buy a whole new wardrobe

10) Be able to talk to my family without using Skype

Time flies

I cannot believe that this is almost over. 

Today we had the last day of classes at the Qasid Institute. It was bittersweet to say the least, and somewhere in between one of our Arabic teachers reciting an entire chapter from the Quran about Christ and BYU's 50+ students singing "God be with you till we meet again" I tasted it.

Despite possible exposure to hypothermia and asphyxiation, being stared at everyday like an alien, hours of homework, language barriers, and water shortages, I have truly come to love this place.

I am really going to miss the Arab gems I have met, being able to walk outside and speak Arabic, watching myself improve over the course of the semester, and getting to know all of the other wonderful students on this program.

So after four exams, a visit to Palestine, souvenir shopping, a flight out of Tel Aviv, and a layover in Newark, I will be home by the 22nd.

22 days- I can do that.

Enshallah.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense.

Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi - 13th century

"Our diet starts tomorrow..."

This is how I feel in the Arab world as I am continually force-fed course after course of food. Enjoy!

Arab kids are the cutest kids

To the virgins, to make much of time - Robert Herrick

The following is one of my favorite poems of all time and it means so much to me. Live it up but at the same time remember that you have all the time in the world to do the things you want to accomplish.

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may, 

    Old time is still a-flying : 

And this same flower that smiles to-day 

    To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, 

    The higher he's a-getting,

The sooner will his race be run, 

    And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first, 

    When youth and blood are warmer ; 

But being spent, the worse, and worst 

    Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time, 

    And while ye may go marry : 

For having lost but once your prime 

    You may for ever tarry.

Little Catie, Big Pepsi

Meet my good, little friend Catie Ashley.

In short (pun intended), this pint-sized, Arabic genius drinks about 4 liters of diet Pepsi a day. And although I would trust her with my life, I will never let her hold my bag and camera at Petra again while I go to the bathroom. Por que you might ask? Here is porque:

Never again.