Welcome to (Snowy) Israel

Hello Middle East and hello winter wonderland. Turns out, the average snowstorm every ten or so years was the day we arrived in this beautiful place. After what could have possibly been the longest flight of my life, with sadly only 20 minutes of sleep sometime near the end of our 32 hour travel day, we stepped out into what we all had previously believed would be some kind of desert. Yes, yes, we were all a little naive. The freezing snow is stunning though and it does prove that I am not faking this adventure right? Because there is no way anyone has ever seen a postcard of Jerusalem covered in snow...right?

(Side note: There are 59 girls and 23 boys in this program...not the best odds haha)

Best moment of the day: I, Jenessa Alyse Hutchins, had a snow ball fight on a balcony overlooking Jerusalem. That officially is my new favorite sentence. I don't quite know why it was so perfect, but it was. This picture was actually taken after the posed one we took in order to capture our lovely snowball fight from a few minutes before. I thought we were all done...good one Tye.

Funny moment of the day: I was sitting in the middle of orientation and gasped (louder than I thought apparently) thinking that I had mistakenly taken some kind of sleeping pill instead of Excedrin a half hour earlier. Don't worry, it was Excedrin. I was just so exhausted, sleeping through orientation could not be prevented no matter how much caffeine was in my system. 

Culture shock moment of the day: At around 5:00 am the Islamic prayer music in Arabic begins to play throughout the whole city for something close to 15 minutes. It's not actually overwhelmingly loud, but when you wake up around 4:22 am, you do get to appreciate it. I am falling in love with this place.

Relaxing moment of the day: There are pianos all over the Jerusalem Center, and yes I stole one for a half hour earlier today. Playing His Hands overlooking Jerusalem is a wonderful thing. 

Strange moment of the day: At lunch my friend and I put together that she lived in my same apartment last year, had shared the same room, and slept in the same bed. For some reason, both Kari and I were a tad bit weirded out.

Jaclyn moment of the day: Well, not quite...but she is named Jacqueline. (Miss you sister friend.)

I love and miss you all. Times 12. I get a phone card in a couple days! Only 3 cents a minute. Can't wait to chat with you fam bam.