Marhaba!

Yes, that's right. I now speak enough Arabic to give this post a fancy Arabic title. Unfortunately that is one of the only words I know so far, so hopefully no one reading this knows enough Arabic to also know that the title has little to do with the subject of the post.

Anyway, on to more important things. Jerusalem is pretty great. It gets better all the time. I mean, it was cool to begin with, but I feel like as time goes on I get more attached to it. I am slowly starting to understand why everyone who has done this program comes away with an eternal loyalty to this city.

Since the last post I've been able to do a ton of cool things, including:

The Ramparts Walk: This is a cool touristy thing that allows you to walk on top (sort of) of the walls surrounding the old city. My favorite part was counting the satellite dishes on top of people's houses. Actually, that was my second favorite. My first favorite part was knowing that I was walking on the wall surrounding the old city instead of walking down 700 E on my way to school.

Geography Field Trip: This might be the coolest field trip I've ever been on. We took a bus to various look-out points surrounding the city to learn all about the geography of the land around Jerusalem. This is to help us visualize things and also help us understand how and why the city developed the way it did. My favorite part was looking at Bethlehem. I'm so excited to go there!

St. Anne's church and the Pool of Bethesda: A small group of students went here a couple of days ago. The church was built to honor the birthplace of Mary, and has BEAUTIFUL acoustics. Two of our group members were able to sing inside the church and we were blown away by their talent. We weren't the only ones though. A group came in just as our friend was finishing up, and a lady that was in the group followed us out and demanded that he give an encore performance. That was pretty great. So was the pool. They have excavated down about 30 meters to the steps into the pool that would have existed during Christ's time.

Western Wall Shabbat welcoming: Also a treat. I can't wait to visit the wall more times during the day. There was plenty of singing, dancing, and people-watching to be had. I was happy.

Garden Tomb visit: Today we were able to visit the Garden Tomb as a group. It's another thing that I am excited to do more of.

Enjoy all sorts of holidays: This week was both the end of Ramadan for the Muslims and Rosh Hashanna for the Jews. My favorite part was admiring the creativity of the Ramadan lights. One that particularly impressed me was a chandelier made from plastic cups and tissue paper. I would include a picture, but our internet is too slow and it won't let me.

Group bonding: There has been everything from dance parties and soul sessions to watching movies like "Charly" and "Prince of Egypt." I have loved getting to know everyone in this group, and can hardly wait to see how well I know them after a few more months.


Egypt in one week from tomorrow!