The Laughlins

As I mentioned before, we went to the zoo for Mark's birthday. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the monkeys the most. In Lemur Land, the lemurs are jumping all around you, because you are in their big pen! It was a lot of fun. I took a lot of videos too, so look for another post soon that just shows video clips!

I got the following write-up from the zoo's website: Today, the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, as it is still unofficially known, stretches across an area of 250 dunams (25 hectares or 62 acres) in a lovely valley surrounded by green hills and new neighbourhoods. The zoo encircles a small lake situated near the main gate. The lake is fed by a series of pools and waterfalls that flow one into the other. Spacious lawns and shady beauty spots surround the lake and pools. The water system is artificial, and relies on recycled water. The zoo is built on two main levels that house most of the animal exhibits. One main, circular route extends the length of both levels and connects most of the sites on the zoo grounds. Additional side paths also connect the two levels, and exhibits are situated along these paths as well.

Our zoological collection centers on two main themes:

The first emphasis is placed on animals mentioned in the Bible. The majority of these animals became locally extinct in the Land of Israel, mostly in the twentieth century. The factors primarily responsible for these extinctions were hunting, habitat destruction, and a feverish pace of construction and development. This group of animals includes species with fascinating histories, creatures like the bears and lions, the Persian fallow deer and Arabian oryx, the cheetah and the Nile crocodile, and many other species that can be found throughout the zoo.

The second emphasis in the zoological collection involves endangered species from around the world. In this group we have, among other species, the Golden lion tamarin, the rarer of the macaws and cockatoos, the ibises, and the Asian elephant.

Most of the animals in the zoo reside in large enclosures that were designed to resemble the natural habitats of the various species. As in any modern zoo today, the staff of the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo devotes a great deal of effort to providing its animals with a maximal amount of living space in a rich, diversified, and stimulating environment.

I have taken many pictures in short spurts, and since ulpan has started, I have gotten a little behind in posting them! Right before this session of ulpan began (1st week of Aug), Mark and I did a tour of the major sites on the Mount of Olives. We walked to the Hebrew U campus and met Seth there. We then followed the ridge-line from Mt. Scopus to the top of the Mt. of Olives. We started at the Victoria Augusta Compound where the Lutheran Church of the Reformation is located. You can pay about $1 to climb to the top of the bell tower, which is the highest point in all of Jerusalem (903 meters above sea level). You have a great view and get to check out the old church bells too. We then headed to the Church of the Ascension, which is now a mosque, but it was closed, so we moved on. There is not much to see inside anyways, so I just took pictures of the outside. We then stopped at the Russian Church of the Ascension, which is now a convent as well. We weren't sure they were going to let Seth in since he had shorts on (immodest to them - he'll make the nuns stumble:), but they did. We mostly got a view of Bethany from there, and then left. Next, we stopped at the Church of Pater Noster (founded in the 4th century), which commemorates the Lord's Prayer (pater noster). You can read the prayer in over 80 languages on the tiled walls, and see the tomb of Princess de la Tour d'Auvergne, who worked there and financed the excavations. Our next stop was the Tombs of the Prophets. (A side note: most of these sites are meant to commemorate events related to Jesus and His disciple, (or in this case, OT prophets). Recent history and archeology has revealed that these sites came of out the tradition of their day, but are not THE VERY LOCATION that any particular event happened. ) The Tomb of the Prophets was the supposed resting place of the prophets Malachi and Haggai, however, even the caretaker (Pierre, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church that owns the site) will tell you that these tombs were after the time of Haggai and Malachi and were probably used to bury Christians from the first few centuries C.E. I took a number of pictures of the Jewish Graveyard on the Mt. of Olives. This is the largest Jewish cemetery in the world. It is an honor to any Jew to be buried on the Mt. of Olives, so not just anyone can be buried there - you have to be special. Seth headed back to Hebrew U, and Mark and I continued on to the Sanctuary of Dominus Flevit. The Latin name means " The Lord wept," and it is meant to commemorate Jesus weeping for Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). There were many rooms filled with ornate ossuaries (bone boxes), and they had a great view of the Old City. We stopped at the Russian Church of Mary Magdalene, which is now a convent. I had to wear a skirt they had there over my pants. The church is very visible from the Old City because of its seven golden onion domes, and it had beautiful gardens throughout the grounds. Our final stop (before the Old City) was the Church of All Nations and the Garden of Gethsemane. It has a huge gold and red facade painted on the outside portraying Jesus bringing peace to all nations. The Garden of Gethsemane is filled with many very old olive trees, and the site commemorates Jesus's betrayal and night of prayer before His crucifixion. It is a possible location of these events, but there is no way to know if it was the same spot spoken of in Luke 22 or Mark 14.

Well, I know that you have large print and stars all over your calendar on August 17th (Mark's Birthday), and you are asking yourself, "How can I give Mark an amazing gift?" Well, I will tell you. It would probably cost you much more money than it is worth to send a gift to Israel, so instead, you can send it to my mother (who is on our bank account), and she can deposit it into our account, which will allow Mark to buy a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls (or maybe just several falafel sandwiches). I am not going to post the address on my website, but if you would like it, please email me at markandaubrey@gmail.com
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!! (I bought him an electronic Hebrew/English dictionary...and a falafel.)

Mark and I took a few day-trips last week to Ammunition Hill, the Ticho House, and Bet Guvrin National Park. The main sights at Bet Guvrin include: the Sidonian Burial Caves, the Bell Caves, and the Columbarium Cave. There are hundreds of other caves there - many that are blocked off or have not been excavated yet. Going underground was definitely a nice change in temperature, and we decided that in the past, people must have spent much of their summers in their cisterns! The Bell Caves were impressive because of their size alone and the fact that people actually had to hand pick or chisel them out. These caves consist of a network of 800+ connected bell-shaped pits, the maximum depth of which is 82 feet! Most of the caves are about 40-50 feet deep, and most of them were used as quarries to supply building materials (limestone blocks) to various cities during the 7th-10th centuries C.E. The Columbarium Cave is a vast "Pigeon Coop Cave" in the shape of a double cross. It is the largest of the 85 caves of its type in the region. It has 2000+ niches in it for roosting pigeons. The pigeons were used for food and possibly cultic purposes, and their dung was used as fertilizer. The Sidonian Burial Caves were used by the Mareshans during the 3rd-2nd centuries B.C.E. (to bury their dead). Original inscriptions and painting have been found in these caves, including a painting of musicians. (There is a picture below of the reproduction.) We spent a lot of time wandering around various houses, lots of cisterns (for holding water), and even oil presses located below the ground. On the far end of the park is a more "recent" Roman amphitheater, fortress, and church (12th century C.E.).
We did a local day-trip to Ammunition Hill and the Ticho House...I will write more about them in a later entry because I need to study, but Ammunition Hill was the location of a pivotal battle during the Six Day War between Jordan and Israel, and the Ticho House is a "house museum" that belonged to Dr. Avraham and Anna Ticho - he was a pro bono eye doctor in Israel, and Anna was a professional painter/artist...more to come!

Now that the first session of ulpan is over, I put this little video together to commemorate the friends and fun of the Aleph 3 class! CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW OF JEREMY AND JEREMY to view the video. The pictures on this post are from our tour of Yemen Moshe and the Montefiore Windmill. Adi and Rachel, we had a lot of fun!

CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW to view a video of our time in Eilat!! It may take a minute or two to load.

We just got back from Eilat, and it was tons of fun!! Mark and I both had our finals on Monday morning, and then we left in the afternoon. It was about a 4.5 hour trip, and unfortunately, the air conditioning didn't work very well, and it felt like you were on a boat the whole time...very wave-like over all of the bumps, which are everywhere. Anyways, I had a pretty awful headache by the time we got there, so we had a quick dinner at the Nelson Restaurant (on the hotel premises) and went to bed. The next morning, I still had a headache, but I wanted to get out, so we went to the beach and shopping mall in Eilat. By the afternoon, I was feeling much better, so we swam around in the Red Sea for a while, and then walked around looking for a place to eat dinner. We ate a yummy pizza, caught a ride back to the hotel, and watched various things on TV, since it was the first TV we have seen since we've been here. The next day, we went to the Underwater Aquarium Park. There were many cool buildings with various underwater themes: shark tank, coral reef room, the Amazon, rare fish, etc. We even had a simulator ride in a "submarine" which talked about the marine life of the Red Sea. We then went to the Coral Reef Reserve, rented snorkeling gear, and went snorkeling for a few hours. It was lots of fun, and I didn't see any sharks, so that was good. We had dinner at the Village Restaurant, and then went into the main city of Eilat. Eilat is a night-life city. Many of the restaurants, bars, and nightclubs don't even open until 9pm, and they stay open until 4am or later. We just went to Aroma and got coffees, and then walked around all of the outdoor marketplaces. We watched Portugal play France in a soccer match on TV that night - France was winning when we went to sleep. The next morning, (oh, yeah...I forgot to say that we got a free HUGE buffet breakfast each morning), we had breakfast and then hung out at the beach at the hotel. We then checked out, went to the Eilat beaches, floated around and sat on sunchairs, and then had lunch. After that, we headed to the bus station, and on the way home, we talked to a group of high school Israeli boys for many hours, and they taught us how to play Shish Bish...like Backgammon. It was a very fun trip. The main drawback was that we had to cross the Israel-Egypt border twice a day (through many checkpoints), because our hotel was in Taba, Egypt...right on the border. However, you can't beat the price (in Egyptian $) or the service at our hotel. Everyone was EXTREMELY friendly and helpful there, and we had a beautiful view of the Red Sea, our own veranda, and a down comforter and pillows. Well, that is mostly the short version...enjoy the pictures! Oh yeah, Mark cut my hair short about a week ago...he did pretty well :)