Will it snow in Jerusalem tonight?

It's 10 o clock PM. Its pouring rain outside the center. It's forcast to snow which hardly ever happens in Jerusalem. We might not have some of our classes tomorrow because our Modern Near East Palestinian narrative teacher won't be able to get here. The entire city shuts down if it snows. We'll see if we get any tonight! We just had the sports activities commitee basketball championship. Everybody got really into it. We had a slam-dunk competition half-time show and everything. Luckily no one injured themselves. I've got a lot of studying to do but I've decided I'm going to try to add to my blog more often even if its just a short update. It's been over a week since I wrote so I'll tell you about the highlights. First big thing when we got back from Egypt was the Conquest Field Trip (February 6, 2008). We went and saw Jericho and the Quruntul Monastery which is a monestary on the supposed mount of temptations (right by Jericho) built basically into the side of a cliff.
The next big thing was the Judges field trip (February 8,2008). We visited the area known as the Shephelah or low-land and talked about the bible events that happened there (Sampson and Delilah, David and Goliath). The highlight for me was where we stopped on our way home . It was a cave of man-made tunnels (I think it was made for secret Canaanite religious practices or something). Barely big enough for a person to crawl/army crawl through. I brought my head lamp and was very glad I did. It was completely dark and claustrophobic many students went through holding on to the ankle of the person in front of them. I were alone I would never have crawled into a hole like that, but, 'everyone was doing it'. When we made it into the cave (end of first tunnel) we had to climb down a latter that was missing a rung so you had to stretch yourself out completely and find something to hold unto while you slid to the nearest rung (in the dark!). Inside the cave it was like a rock/dirt Mcdonald's jungle gym. You crawled up the tunnels and there was a window at the top to the cave room where you could wave your headlamp at friends below in the dark. On the way down I bent my fingernail back and that really hurt. To get out it was recommended we go the same way we came in, but for the more adventurous there was another way out that was supposedly an even tighter a squeeze. Once again peer pressure convinced me to go the adventurous way. Once I stuck my head in I got a push from behind and there was no turning back. It was really hot becuase I left my jacket on to keep from skining my elbows. My arms were getting tired so I was moving kind of slowly. The fact that we were all laughing and screaming didn't help either. It wasn't too tight except for the very end when we finally saw the light. The dirt from outside had kind of filled the hole in a bit. To get out we had to grab on to the foot of one of the guys outside and they would help drag you through a bit. I started to get dragged but didn't want to get all skinned up so I didn't take the help and inched my way out more slowly. When we finally all got out we were sweaty and streaked with dirt. It was awesome!
The next big thing that happened was Sunday February 10, 2008. We have weekly concerts for the public in the Center. This week Brother Galbraith gave an organ concert along with our student choir and a violin duet played by Sister Galbraith and me! We played a piece by Emmanuel Moore, I've never really heard of him or this piece but it was very beautiful. I have a short video clip of us playing that Sis Galbraith sent to me. I'm going to try to put it on my blog. And I saved the program Mom, it has a little sentence or too in it about me. It was a packed house and really a rush to perform. I'm so glad the Galbraith's let me play with them, they are great musicians.
The next day Feb 11 was notable because it was a free day. I went with a group to David's Citadel which is really nice and has a beautiful view. See picture. After a lunch of a lovely old city falafel we walked out to the Israel Museum and the Shrine of the Book where we saw the Dead Sea Scrolls. Also there was a huge outdoor model there of 2nd Temple period Jerusalem. It was amazing to see how huge Solomon's temple was.
Next notable event was Valentine's Day Eve (Feb 13, 2008) When my roomate Heather and I and the JC's only official couple (Davey and Kristy are so perfect for each other, will definitely be getting married) took a taxi to West Jerusalem for a night on the town. It was my first time out of the center at night (don't worry its not against the rules in West Jerusalem). We went to the Crepe Cafe. Their waffles are to die for. Trending little place in a trendy part of town. We had really, really good dinner crepes and desert waffles (Melted Chocolate, Banana, Strawberry, mmmm). D and K were delightful company. Usually when you go somewhere with a couple its annoying because they're just lost in each other's eyes. I love Davey and Kristy and we had lots of fun. (There's nothing like being a third wheel on Valentine's Day).
The last event of notability was last Shabbat Feb. 16th I got to teach gospel doctrine Sunday School and play my violin in Sacrament meeting on the same day. Sacrament meeting I wasn't very worried about. I played a descant to the primary song Beautiful Savior while two girls sang. Gospel Doctrine however was very intimidating. Our Sunday school consists of all the BYU students, all the faculty (intimidating) all the Mormons who are living, working, or going to school in Jerusalem, and this week there was a bus of Canadian Mormons who were visiting. We had my class in the Forum (the huge classroom). There were a lot of people there and I was nervous. I taught the section from 2 Nephi chapter's 1 and 2. I discovered it's really hard to organize and articulate your ideas when everybody's staring at you. Things started out slow but by the end people got really into the discussion. The thing that made my lesson cool was I played songs from BYU-I's oratorio ('The Tree of Life') that had to do with the doctrine in those chapters. Thanks for this goes to mom who had the songs and words emailed to me. Thanks again! Even though I probably looked scared to death trying to teach the lesson I'm glad I did it because it made me study 2 Nephi A LOT and it gave me some experience trying to express myself even though it's painful.