Scenes from the Bible

Hayley, remember how you like the taste of the salty ocean? If you ever taste the Dead Sea and tell me you like it I'll know you were lying all along. It is so salty that the tiniest drop burns your eyes, and I'd advise against shaving for at least a week beforehand. Ouch. Despite that, it was one of the coolest sensations, floating so easily. You couldn't drown if you tried. I could sit up like I was sitting in a chair and it would hold my head well above the water. Plus, as you can see, it is beautiful.

We attempted to go to a nicer Israeli beach but our taxibus driver was Palestinian so the checkpoint guards wouldn't let us through to the Israeli side. That is, they wouldn't let us cross in that taxi with that driver. We could have walked to the other side and taken a bus.

German Yonas, one of the international volunteers.

Hollander Arwin. Pretty much everyone smokes here.

The thing to do in the dead sea - cover yourself if mud. Not only does it look cool, but it makes your skin baby smooth.

View of Jericho from a cable car up to the Mount of Temptation, where all we did was eat, but still, Jesus was there once so it's cool.

My refugee camp class. Nablus is a clean and beautiful bustling city compared to the refugee town where these kids live. On the streets there are a few shops, more children, and ridiculous amounts of garbage everywhere. But my students are great. Crazy energetic but so sweet.