Rumor Mill.

The Jerusalem Center is fun for so many reasons.

One of them being the constant rumors that fly.

All the couples, all the other various drama, etc. There isn't a day that goes by where we don't talk about a couple that has broken up/gotten back together/looks cute together/seems complicated/etc.

WELL. Today, someone started a rumor about me. And now, it's payback.

Here's what went down:

I was walking around the Oasis (our cafeteria), and Thomas comes up to me and says "I hear that you and Josh are hooking up." To which I respond "Oh, really? Who has told you that? haha" He tells me that it was infact Jared Ludlow. aka Junior. (Sidenote: I'm not really sure exactly what hooking up means in this context. As in, I don't know what Junior/Thomas meant when they said this).

Thomas then sits at our table and we start talking about it and Nicole mentions that while in Galilee, Junior told Nicole that he thinks I'm only after Josh for the physical aspect of the relationship. WHAT? haha

Apparently what he (or she) meant is that I'm only after him for his looks. When I heard that, I thought something else but something was obviously lost in translation. haha

So he thought it was his duty to spread this rumor around. That's fine, we can handle it. This is obviously forcing Josh and I to work as a team to get him back. And we've already come up with something... potentially wonderful.

Oh these next few days could get rather interesting. :)

Rumors are the best.

ALSO, despite popular belief, (including younger teenagers within the building), the whole Josh-and-Danielle thing is a joke. Some people might be taking it a bit too far... But it's fine, we can play along just fine. See, just a joke:

(And last post of November. Where has the time gone?!)

Basketball Revamped.

After Galilee, we thought that basketball was going to start in tournament form. But it didn't. We had another game on Sunday which was perfect because it gave us just enough time to get our team uniforms. :)

Friday, we went out shopping for 2 hours (because that's all the time we had!) and then

We unveiled our uniforms at our game and let's just say that the crowd loved them.

After winning our game (we're now 3-0), we decided to take some team pictures.

Look no further:

(and I apologize, these were all taken POST-game when we were all sweaty. Next time we'll be cute.)

Smiling picture. :)

Top row: Coach Junior, Kimberly, Lizzy, Elyse; Bottom Row: Suzy, Kaylie, Me!

Funny picture.

Typical Muscle picture.

Baller shot.

Let's just say, the JC didn't know what hit them.

JCLDS.

Today at our announcement session, Mr. Hayat informed us about JCLDS.

Which stands for: Jerusalem Center Last Days Syndrome. (hahaha oh he is so clever).

But he kept talking how people start getting a little crazy at this point because we leave so soon and so we try to cram everything we can into our last days. He says not to worry about doing everything because we've already done SO much. He says to just relax and keep seeing stuff and doing what we want but don't freak out because it'll be fine if we miss a couple of things on our checklist.

We know that we've been reaching the end of our time but now that someone high up has said it, it makes it that much more real... AND scary. We basically have no time left. Which is really not true but it sure feels like it. Good thing I've taken advantage of every opportunity to go outside. Except right now, that doesn't count.

But I went out on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and even today. Wow. haha we are also in the Old City on a field trip tomorrow and then we have a free day Thursday. So I will go out 7 days in a row. That's unheard of.

It's good though because I feel like I'm taking every chance I have to spend in the city. Although, my legs are definitely feeling the hike up the hill to get home... haha but it's worth it. :)

In less than 16 days, we'll be in Vienna.

And in 21 days, we'll be back in California.

HOLY MOLE.

I can't even believe it.

The last days are upon us.

dun. dun. dun.

(I feel weird not posting a picture so here is a GORGEOUS sunset over the Old City from yesterday):

p.s. Exciting news of the week: My former employer emailed me yesterday informing me that they want me to work for them again this winter! Guess who is going home to a JOB?! This girl. :)

Shopping Spree.

Ever since we were driving back home from Galilee, I've been feeling like I am running out of time in the city.

So I've obviously taken advantage of it, every chance I get.

Friday, I went out in the Old City with my basketball team to get our team uniforms (which turned out great, another post on that to come...). We can't go out until 3 and we have to be back in before 5 so we only were out for a short time but it was perfect.

Hours in the city: 2.

Saturday (Sabbath), after church we headed to the Orson Hyde Garden and also to the Garden of Gethsemane. It was so great.

Hours in the city: approx. 2.5ish.

Yesterday (Sunday), we had a field trip in the morning in the Jewish Quarter and then we got to stay in the city. So we headed to West Jerusalem and went shopping and basically ate our way through the town. Falafel, donuts, peach-y O's, plus some treats to bring home. :) It was a delightful day, except for the fact that the lightrail got shut down (because someone got hit...) so we had to walk allllll the way home. :(

Hours in the city: 8.5-ish.

Today, we headed out bright and early. At 8. Whitney, Ben, Annaleah, Nicole and I. And we went straight to the Dome of the Rock. Finally. And it was SO worth it. I don't have pictures at this very second, so check back but we took some super artsy shots. And some super fun ones. So that'll definitely be posted soon. :)

We then headed over to Aladdin's to get some more money (which at the time we didn't know how needed it would be...) We dropped Whitney and Ben off with another group and the three of us headed on our way. Got our money and then headed back to the Jewish Quarter to go to a museum because there was supposed to be a free english tour... but we missed it.

So we turned our day into a shopping day. And we were mighty successful. A shopkeeper basically read my mind and thus, I got my necklace with my name in Hebrew. And we basically checked tons and tons of stuff off our list of things to buy. When we got home, we thought that we were done shopping but now we have reconsidered... and we have more things to get. But we are almost done and the end is definitely in sight.

We might've blown through more sheks in the past two days than we have the whole trip. And if not, it sure feels like it. It's strange how spending 300+ sheks in one day wasn't that big of a concern. Because we have so many fun new things. AND because they aren't dollars! haha

But I love our purchases and after we get a couple more things, we'll be all set.

And that'll be a good feeling. :)

Catching Up.

Blogging right now is completely overwhelming because I am so far behind.

And usually I tell funny anecdotes about the crazy happenings in the Jerusalem Center.

But at this point, I don't even know where to start. I want to upload lots of fun pictures but I don't even know where to begin.

Argh. This is so frustrating. hahaha I'm so sorry.

So here are a couple of quality shots to give you a little taste of the good times in Galilee.

With Lottie and Robin in front of the Sea of Galilee. :)

Reenactment of this picture (the one at the very bottom of the post) but this time in Megiddo.

p.s. look how spouse-y we are: Josh is wearing my jacket (and he wears it better than I do...). What's mine is his. :)

With our chameleon friend, Pascal. :) SO cute.

Ben, the kid in the orange shirt behind me, found him and Pascal became our new friend. He even changed colors a lot. So cool.

First roommate picture ever! Nicole, Danielle, Jessica, Catie. Taken in Akko/Acre. And we coordinated pretty well I would say. :)

Hello Mediterranean Sea! With Lizzy and Devin. :)

Okay, that is all. For now. More to come later.

Peace & Blessings.

Oh yeah, and I love Christmas.

<3

Back. To. Jerusalem.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are now back in Jerusalem.

And Galilee was the bomb.

Seriously. So much fun. And so much craziness.

Busy class schedules, hectic field trips, lots of bonding time, buckets of rain and finally some sunshine and lots of fun. :)

I'm sure I'll post a lot more about all our shenanigans and pictures and such but right now, I'm exhausted and I don't have the energy to do anything. Except go to bed. haha

But yep, we are back and we are are being thrown into school and craziness again.

Yippee. :)

p.s. I have been craving falafel for days so hopefully that is lunch tomorrow. :)

Love Galilee. :)

For Shmack:

Here are the pictures I was telling you about that we took just for you. :)

If you don't understand what we are doing, here is a hint:

"To the ________, to the _______".

GOT IT?!

We're so cute.

Also, these pictures we taken in Troy, Turkey. And it feels like we were there about 450 years ago. It was quite strange going through the pictures to find these two....

(p.s. if you really don't know what we're doing, it's "to the windoooooow, to the waaalllllll".)