I've figured it out!!!!

It's the world cup. THAT's why the internet won't work. ughh!
The internet is the WORST here. I can’t even download a study guide, much less update my blog, but here I am……early trying to do so. I was told to include a little more of what the daily life here is like, which is fun……and something that I haven’t really taken time to do, so…now I will.

So, I live in Jerusalem. It’s AWESOME…..and terribly conflicted.


(this is my view of Jerusalem from the center.....that's right.)

People ask me my opinion for a solution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and I just get a headache thinking about where to start. We’ve been taught in classes all semester by a Palestinian Arab and a Zionist Israeli, I have talked to people on the streets and at universities and I feel I have a pretty good handle on the situation now. And it’s a mess.

What we have here are displaced people, displacing people.

I have a lot to say about it, but I’m not actually allowed to talk about politics via the internet. A weird rule…maybe a little out of control, but I understand it and will respect it.

Ok. Now, other current events with me:

I ATE CAMEL! And it was surprisingly good. My professor recommend a place to us…..so we got it at a non-sketchy restaurant and they served it to us 3 different ways. One was like a pot roast kinda, another grilled, and then kebabs! It tasted a little like beef, but you could tell it was different……maybe tasted a little game-y. it wasn’t tough at all, really tender….a good experience, totally worth it. There was a bit of drama at the center about it though because…well…....it’s maybe…sort of…..illegal in Israel. We got this awesome email that made me laugh, that I WOULD post here…but…I decided I maybe shouldn’t……oh well…story time when I go back to the States.





ANYWAYS!

I took some pictures of people around the city, which was actually kind of bad, because Hasidic Jews don’t want their pictures taken at all…..let’s just say it’s ALSO not kosher.
And if you want to take a picture of just an Arab person they usually want you to pay them…that’s just the culture. But…..i didn’t tell any of these people I was snapping pictures…oops.











We had a traditional Passover dinner led by our Judaism professor and it was really cool. Passover is in the spring but besides that it was completely legitimate. (and soooo long)





Walking around the city is so fun and exciting it just never gets old. The group I was with went to an ancient cardo and it was pretty cool. It’s so weird to think that the road I’m walking on was the same road that Romans walked on……and Christ too….no big deal. ;)


(some Byzantine-column lovin')



We went Khalidi Library and saw some Arabic texts which were very old and really cool. We found a convent and wandered through it, turns out that it has this old cistern area that winds underneath the building, under the city…kind of like phantom of the opera…you know what im talking about? We through a little caution to the wind and went into this garden that said “No trespassing” it wasn’t in English…..but we know that’s what it said….we just wanted to see it so we decided to plead ignorance if we were caught. Turns out it was a seminary….whoops. but everything was fine, we didn’t see anyone and we walked in, walked out. THEN we went and saw an Armenian Museum….which was closed…but we walked to it, so I decided to mention it.


(sweet underground convent)


(armenian quarter in the old city. i just thought this was a cool wall)

I can’t wait for this week to be over. I’ll be done with classes and will have lots of time to explore. Time is running out fast and it makes me pretty nervous. Next week we’re going to Galilee! And I’m very very excited.

I’m not quite exactly sure what most people want to hear about, so just tell me…. otherwise they will be mostly what they have been……yes.