Thursday, February 9, 2012

ZOO!!!

Sunday was such a fabulous day. Really.

It started off with attending another service at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the middle of the Old City. One of the guys here mentioned on Saturday night that they wanted to go to a service there, and wondered if I'd want to go with. I, of course, said yes, and before I knew it we had a group of 25 or so of us attending Church the next morning. It was a really cool experience for me to be able to share my traditions with the people here, who have graciously shared their traditions with me. It was nice to show them that in the end, we really aren't all that different. Moreover, it was really special to have their support and eagerness to learn. I appreciated that more than I can put into words. 
Me, the roommates, and one of our awesome hometeachers, David, outside the sanctuary
After the church service, we loaded up into buses and went to the zoo!! We had been trying to think of a fun way to spend our free day, and a bunch of us decided that we should go to the zoo. We thought that maybe a zoo, is a zoo, is a zoo - but boy were we surprised. This was honestly the coolest zoo I've ever been to - and I've been to quite a few in my day. I've never gotten as close to animals as I did at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. It was a blast. They had lions, and tigers, and bears... well, the bear was hibernating, but still- he was there somewhere. There were plenty of giraffes and zebras and more to make up for his absence. 


Jumping picture! I should have concentrated more on smiling and less on the jumping though...

Feeding some birds nectar... they loved me.

Jason, Haylie, and Me on the bear statues. Almost as good as the real thing.

Making (or moreso, attempting to make) the owl face

Part of our Zoo group
We ate our lunch next to the Noah's Ark that they had at the zoo! So cool. The sign graciously informed us that "Entry to Noah's Ark is not limited to pairs..." Good thing it told us. We were confused for a while...

Entering in pairs...

Upon reading the sign... :)
They had a prairie dog exhibit, which might be pretty fascinating to some people... but less so to a Montanan girl. However, they did have tunnels we crawled into in order to get to small observation bubble-like things, which made for a good photo-op, if nothing else. If only I'd had a .22... ;)

In the observation bubble... notice the creature on my right. It was close after Groundhog's day, and we figured these guys were close to groundhogs, but we couldn't exactly figure out how to tell if they could see their shadows. 

We then found some cool mosaic statue things that acted like a giant playground for big-kids. We promptly crawled in, around, and on top of as many as we could. 

A dog? Or an anteater? Or...?

Flamingo-ing!
By far, however, the best exhibit was the lemur exhibit!! There were no fences once you got inside the exhibit, so you literally got close enough to touch them! It was incredible. 

They're so close!!
We finished off the day by going to downtown West Jerusalem and grabbing some pizza and ice cream! It was a great way to end the day. And, the best part, was the Montana license plate on the wall!!! I was so excited to see one from MT. No coincidence, I'm sure. Just another of the many God-sends to remind me that He's watching out for me... and to keep me from getting too unbearable homesick. :) Edit: Daddy emailed me, and told me that this license plate is from Great Falls. And, incredibly, my grandparents on his side were living in Great Falls in '85 when this expired. Just one more incredible coincidence to keep me comforted. :)

Reppin' the 406!!

1 comment:

  1. also, i thoroughly approve of the ohio license plate beneath it :)
    i am loving your blog... keep it coming, sista!
    hopefully this publishes as me and not ian, but if not... much love from good ol' columbus, ohio from another displaced montanan :)

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