Day 90

The Archaeological Park

Kaitlyn and I just chillin' where Jesus was.

Ancient arch in the background

The little bump on the right used to be a huge stair case
where you could walk up to the temple mount.

Ancient Mikveh, the unclean would walk down one side
and baptize themselves then walk up the other side before
going up to the Temple Mount.

Leslie and I with our matching sweaters

Elise and Lauren hanging out in the lab

My sweater!

Sunday. The 27th of November.

Okay so today was pretty fun. Well getting up was rough for everyone in my room again, we've been struggling with that whole concept lately. I made a sack lunch at breakfast, I am not a fan of them. We then got to ride over to the Old City for our field trip. We walked around with our classes for a little bit in the Jewish Quarter while we were waiting for the museums to open. We first went into the Wohl Museum, it is build over ruins of homes from the time of the second temple destruction. Because of the location they were the homes of wealthy religious Jews of the time. They were fun to look at, but it really was just another pile of rocks. And it was freezing cold inside, it literally was warmer outside. We then switched over to the Burnt House, which was also a house of religious men from the same time. We got to watch a little cheesy movie while we were in there, but it was worth it because it was so warm. We then walked down a bit to the Archaeological Park, which is an entire area next to the temple mount that has been dug out to actually be down to the time of Jesus. So this is actually on of the few places in the city where you can literally walk where Jesus walked. Because everything else has been so built up. Huntsman talked to us for quite a while, but the other class had already finished. And Melissa and group of girls from the other class were waiting for me and were getting impatient, so the moment Huntsman released us I was up and jogging to where the girls were. I almost fell on my face in front of a group of soldiers because I was trying to call Melissa while walking and they all started laughing at me. Once I caught up to them we went to a few stores in the Jewish Quarter then headed over to the other side of the city. I've been waiting for this one store to order in a sweatshirt for me, but when I got to the store a man with one arm that I hadn't talked to before was working and didn't understand what I wanted, even though I could see the bag with my stuff. So I sadly left with out it. We then just walked around and did some shopping. The plan was to do 'quick' shopping, as in know what you want in what specific store. Well that did not go as planned and we ended up staying in just one store for over an hour! Urg. A few of us walked around while a few indecisive girls stayed in the store. We were down by this corner shop that we pass all the time and the same boy is always working. Leslie and I stopped and she asked how much this plate thing was, just being curious. Then we started leaving, so Leslie walked away but the dumb boy wouldn't let me by and got really close to my face and started saying creepy things. So I pretty much ran out of there. But we stayed around that area for a little while longer, so I hid behind the other girls because he was just watching me. Once the indecisive girls had made up their minds we headed over to West Jerusalem. We hustled over there because we had things we still wanted to do but were now running late on time. We rode the light rail over, it's just a free train system. It is super crowded though so you have to make sure that everyone has a buddy, because it is easy to get stuck on or not even get on. But we were successful our first try. Our first stop was at Gina's Underwear. The name is deceiving, I ended up getting a 3 shekel belt and 7 shekel shoes, totaling about three dollars. Next we walked up a ways and got some doughnuts filled with chocolate. Doughnuts are seasonal here and I'm pretty sure that it is only the BYU students eating all of them. Literally everyone here gets them. But they sure are delicious. We had to keep walking while we were eating, so we looked like fools because we all had chocolate and powder sugar all over our faces. Pretty funny site. We hit up Alladin's then split into two groups, one group to Omars and the other home. I was in the home group, but we ended up going into a clothes store and buying Christmas Sweaters! Well actually I really like it for a normal sweater, but then the two other girls I was with wanted them too. So all three of us matched on the way home. It was pretty funny. Everyone at the center loved our sweaters, we wore them all night. I absolutely love it too. I watched a couple basketball games when I got back, then talked with Lauren and Nicole for a while. Then we made birthday notes and a card for Leslie and figured out plans for her birthday, which is tomorrow. Yay!