Our free day was Monday this week, because we went to the Holocaust Museum on Sunday. For our free day we walked to Dormition Abbey, where Mary’s tomb is. We walked from there to this outdoor mall. Marissa was dying from lack of American culture and jeans that fit, so we found her an American Eagle. The mall was just like being in America, except the signs were in Hebrew. I bought Harry Potter in Hebrew while we were there. I plan on reading it during the summer term when I don’t have any Hebrew classes. That night we went to Jerusalem’s Festival of Lights. When you got there, you could follow one of 3 paths, each of which had different light shows and things going on. We had just enough time to go one most of the 3 paths before we drove back to the JC. It was really cool to be in the Old City after dark (usually prohibited) and just go along with the all the crowds of people there.
I did 2 things after class on Tuesday: I took a tour underneath the JC and then most of the students went to a soccer game for
the Under 21 World Cup happening in Israel. We got to see all the pipes and wires in the spaces under our home. At the game, we saw Israel play England and win.
They didn’t make it to the next round, but it was fun to see them win their
match. The really interesting part of the trip, though, was getting there and
back. We were picked up by vans from the center and they were supposed to take
us to a bus stop where we could get on the free buses to the game. They dropped
us off at the wrong stop and only a couple vans could be found to pick us up
again and take us to the right stop. Then there were so many people coming to
the game, we had to push ourselves onto the buses and I sat on Courtney’s lap,
to make room for people. We were 20 minutes late to the game, even though we
left 2 hours early. Then after the game, no one knew which bus to get on and
then we couldn’t find any buses, so we all wandered around the stadium for an
hour before we found the right bus. It was pretty hectic, but we got where we
wanted in the end.
Wednesday, we went to Hezekiah’s Tunnel. That was probably
the coolest thing we’ve done so far. We walked through the narrow tunnel, water
to mid-calf most of the walk. Sometimes the ceiling was way above us and other
times I had to bend over a bit, but mostly it was a few inches above my head.
That’s one site that I really want to go back to. That night, we had a guest
speaker who was a 95 year old Holocaust survivor. He was really cute and funny.
He survived 9 concentration camps and lost his whole family. Someone asked him
how he could be so happy, and he answered, “How could I be sad? I’ve lived a
great life and have so much to live for yet!” I thought that is a great way to
live: no matter how bad life can get, we have so much to be happy about!
My Thursday morning classes were canceled, so I got to sleep
in, although I did wake up early to Skype Matt (and then went back to bed). I
learned that early in the morning the connection is good, because no one is on
the internet. On Friday, we had classes and then were set free at 3. I went to the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher again, this time with someone who knew a lot more
about the things inside. The church is funny to me, because of how random it
feels. There are just so many different styles of art, architecture and worship
that it’s hard to really make sense of any of it. It’s a product of the 8
different churches and religious and artist traditions.
Tomorrow we go to Eilat, which is on the Red Sea, and are
going snorkeling! I’m really excited! I’ve never been snorkeling and it’s one
of my only chances to expose my legs to the sun this summer. It’ll be great.
Love you all!
Kelby
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