Blogs work!

Well my dear friends, they have unblocked some of the internet restrictions and can post on my blog! I will post my posts that I have already sent out, and then I'll start sending new ones! Hooray!

Here is a post:

Feelin’ hot hot hot

Well I have officially made it to the Holy Land! Hooray! Yesterday was my birthday, but I forgot when I woke up because I was so excited about the field trip. My roommate (who coincidentally was in the MTC at the same time as me getting ready to go to Russia) gave me a pack of Starburst and gave me a little birthday hug. I had totally forgotten to do that until she said Happy Birthday! At least I was the one to forget and not everyone else. Then while we were waiting for the field trip buses my friend, who is super bubbly, found out and announced it to everyone and made them sing “Happy Birthday”. So I had people saying Happy Birthday to me all day long. I also felt like I could do anything because it was my birthday, and kept saying so. I even scored some free Jerusalem bookmarks from a guy at a site because I told him I didn’t have money, someone told him it way my birthday and then I whined a little that it was my birthday and I didn’t have any money. He gave them to me and now they’re marking what I have to read in my books.

It is so hot here it’s crazy. I got totally sweaty on our field trip and had sweat marks showing on my back, it was sick. I was dripping sweat all day long. I was totally embarrassed. But I stayed hydrated because I brought Emma’s Camelback. Smart move. Speaking of camels, we went to a site that had one that was trained to give kisses. Here is me getting a sticky birthday one:

The field trip we went on today was to orient ourselves with the geography of the area. It was confusing because I didn’t know what anything was and was confused when our teacher pointed the places out. I just don’t know my Old Testament very well. But the amazing thing to realize is how close everything is to each other. This picture shows Jerusalem in the background. It only took us about 15 minutes to drive to the look out spot:

And this picture was taken from another spot with Bethlehem in the background:

By the end of the day I was totally sunburned despite the fact that I had applied sunscreen. I’m pretty sure I sweated it all off. (My calves and shins even sweated when I crossed them.)

When we returned from the field trip a lot of people were going to do homework and then a bunch were going into the city. I decided since it was my birthday after all, that I would go into the city. We were going to exchange money but the money changers were closed because of their holy day, whoops, so we just walked around the Old Town and looked in shops. On the way back I got a little ice cream as a present, because it was of course my birthday.

One of the highlights of the day however was probably Sister Huntington, the wife of the academic director, giving us a little lesson on modesty and avoiding uninvited aggressive touching of men. As a little background, Sister Huntington is very soft-spoken, and really sweet. She is just a really nice lady. But the best part of the lecture was when she said if it does happen, it’s not our fault and we shouldn’t let it ruin our days, because the man was just a “stupid, horny idiot.”