My New Edition

So after the last posting I received some comments and feedback from friends and family about my writing style and syntax. I created my blog as a forum for my unedited thoughts and a way of keeping my fan base (just joking) up to date on what I have been doing in Israel. However, after contemplating these comments from others and reading Jeremy Borovitz’s blog, which for those who haven’t read the long narratives, it is very intelligent and an interpersonal narrative I have decided to take another approach to this post. So here it goes.

**an abbreviated version will be posted below for those who hate the long posts**

Today I visited Jerusalem. However, this was not the Jerusalem that I was familiar with from my previous visits this holy relic city, not just for Jews but also Christians and Muslims. After waking up at seven in the morning to board a bus that was scheduled to leave Tel-Aviv at 7:30 (8 ish Israeli time, see conversion calculator below) I was a little weary for the skies looked gray and the forecast for the day overcast and rainy. And as predicted the rain fell on and off throughout the day with glimpses of sunshine on a cold winter day.
But I did not despair. We arrived to our first destination, an outlook of the entire city, where a FREE breakfast of tuna sandwiches, apples, energy bars and water was served. So as a son of my ‘free’ loving father, I ate two sandwiches even though one was more than enough and stuffed a few extra energy bars in my pockets. I seem to forget the excitement that people get from seeing Jerusalem. Form observing other students, who for them it was their first time, taking pictures and being over anxious to see everything I am reminded of the significance of the city to all religions.
We next entered the old city though a gate where conservationist are trying to preserve parts of the old city wall as taxis and trucks drive by at 25 mph. We reached the rooftop outlook where I snapped my first pictures of the trip. In my attempts to be somewhat artsy and not just come home with point and shoot pictures I was able to come out with, in my mind, some neat overhead pictures of the Dome of the Rock, Al-Aqsa Mosque, numerous church and the Kotel. Our tour guide, a graphic designer from Tel-Aviv named Asaf, was very good in my experience of tour guides and gave us a detailed historical account of the points of interest and their meanings in today’s religiously tense world.
The rain continued and the temperature got down into the high 30s and low 40s F to my estimation for I was able to see my breath when talking. We slipped and slid down narrow pathways and walked down wet stairs where drainage is a problem to the Western Wall. I believe that some of the aw of the Kotel has worn off on me and the whether put an additional damper on praying outside, nonetheless, I picked up a siddor and prayed the morning prayer from start to finish. It was the first time in a long time since I have prayed however, I was still able to communicate with god and ask him for a few things (good health for my family and friends, and a little help in cracking the dense force field surrounding Israeli girls that is preventing me from picking them up).
at this point I have taken a break in writing this entry and it may revert to my previous form of dangling participles and subjunctive clauses or something like that
Upon leaving the Kotel the rain started to come down harder and at an angel for the wind picked up some. We walked to the excavated ruins of the corner of the Western and Southern wall near the Robinson Archway where we walked through a little museum where we watched a movie poorly dubbed and found more entertainment out of the bad accent and poor storyline than the museum itself.
All of the tourist things I have done before and I enjoyed walking around the old city and seeing the sites again, but the next part of our tour I was not prepared for. We walked through the Jewish art galleries then the Arab merchants selling the cheesy t-shirts (Guns & Moses being my favorite) until we reached the Christian section. We walked past a few merchants selling crosses on any piece of jewelry imaginable, candles and pictures Mary and Jesus. We stopped at an old looking building with indistinguishable exterior features that I have never visited on any of my Jerusalem trips. This was the Church of the Holy Sepulchral, the second most holy site for Catholics next to the Vatican and one holiest places for all of Christianity. Walking in I was not sure what to expect, this being only the second time ever in a church and of one with so much significance. It was an interesting and beautiful site. The painstaking detail and breadth of the murals as well as the vastness of the dome are great pieces of art. Though there was a lot of confusion and disillusion among other Jewish students about visiting a Christian site, I felt at ease and able to respect and admire the iconic artwork. Visiting the church allowed me to see Jerusalem from a perspective that I never saw in the past.
Leaving the church we boarded the buses and went to the market to eat. The rain was not conducive to a market excursion so a few of us broke off and ended up at a mom and pops eatery. This place was unique in that the menu for the day was whatever the mom was cooking. We walked up to the women standing behind three large cooking pots and pointed to what we wanted to eat. I ate kubae soup, houmus, cigars and pita. It was delicious and I felt kilos heavier when I left. The food was great and the atmosphere even better.