Day 91

Dome of the Rock 

With Lauren

The Dome

At the Dome with Elise, Katie, Lauren, and Andy

Dome of the Rock

Just on the rooftops

In the Suke (pronounced Shoe-k)

Monday. The 28th of November.

This morning I got up at six thirty and showered to be ready to leave at seven, to go to the Dome of the Rock. We were a little later than planned but I headed out with Tyler, Katie, Elyse, Andy and Lauren. We left so early because a few of the girls hadn't been yet and every time they tried they weren't able to get on the Temple Mount. When we got there we were able to walk right on and not have any problems at all. So it was worth getting up so early. It was fun because there wasn't many other people there, so we got good pictures with out random people in the background. Tyler had been there four times already and he told us that we could walk on the city walls right by the mount, he even had asked the military boys if it was okay and they said yes. So we got onto it and he inched across a narrow little spot, so I followed. But then some man from super far away started to yell at us and freaking out so I hurried and sat down so he couldn't see me. But then I didn't want to stand back up to walk off, so I ended up jumping off the wall it was only about eight feet to the ground. I guess when I landed I hit it pretty hard, so everyone was concerned that I had broken my ankles or something. I was perfectly fine though. We left and walked over to a little bakery place and grabbed some breakfast. I had this puffy pastry that was filled with this cheesy type stuff. It was reasonably good. And went up onto the rooftops of the city for a little while and just sat, until a tour group came up and sat all around us. When we were walking out Lauren totally slipped and fell on the ground next to me and by the time I even turned my head she was already back up. It was pretty funny. All walking surfaces are surprisingly slippery here, it is because they are so smooth from being walked on so much, I've fallen multiple times myself. Then we went and got my sweatshirt! yay. The same guy without an arm was there, this time he looked through the entire bag for my sweatshirt. He tried to sell it to me for twenty more shekels than I had originally agreed to, but he ended up giving it to me for what I wanted. Only after he patted my face, with his one arm. He had to put the print onto the sweatshirt, so I pretty much was his little assistant and helped him the entire time because I wanted it to be easy for him (you know why). After we shopped around there for a little while we headed out of the city and got onto the light rail and took it up to the Suke in West Jerusalem. We were waiting for Leslie to call, because she went to a painting project in the morning. And we had made fun plans to have a birthday lunch with her in West J. So we were trying to kill time until she was ready. We walked around the Suke for a little while, where we found a great cheap candy store. Leslie called at about twelve and said her and a couple other girls were just about to leave and would be there in half an hour. So we started to look for an Italian restaurant, because that is what she wanted to eat. We found a few options, we ran into Prof. Harper and his family. And because Leslie was taking a while to get over, two kid's went home with Harper because they didn't want to wait anymore. So I felt bad that I had made them wait so long for nothing. Then we met up with Whitney and Ben so they could do the lunch with us. But by that time, it was almost one and Leslie and her group were still a half our out. I was talking to Melissa on the phone. And apparently now after we have waited hours for them to come out to West J. they apparently wanted to eat over in the Jewish Quarter in the Old City. The complete opposite side of the city. So I talked to the people with me and they said they didn't want to walk all the way over there, so we would just see them at dinner. So I told Melissa that and she pretty much freaked out at me, because I said we would wait for Leslie and now that she was ready we didn't want to go. And she wouldn't let me explain that we would wait all day and had been, but it was the fact that we had planned on eating where we were and they were just changing it. Pretty much she hates me. It ended up that Melissa wouldn't even talk on the phone anymore with me, so I also gave my phone up to someone else because I was so frustrated. I literally had been stressing and trying to plan out this day for so long. And now it was all ruined and everyone was tired, hungry, and frustrated with me. I felt really, really bad. It was easily my worst day here. I ruined everything for everyone. And Melissa was not being nice to me on the phone and told me I was being dramatic.  My group ended up just eating some bagels and Leslie's group got pizza where ever they were. Then Lauren, Katie and I walked around while we were waiting for Leslie and them to walk over. I guess they decided to come over after eating. We had bought Leslie some of her favorite cookies earlier in the morning, so we went and found some flowers for her too while we were waiting. When we got back to Whitney and the other half of my group we finally met up with Leslie at about three. She had about ten girls in her group and they all pretty much shunned me and didn't really talk to me at all. Kaitlyn even said that she was having fun until she met up with our group. Wow, glad I single handedly ruined everyone's day. I faked happy and gave Leslie her gifts, then we sat with them while they got crepes. Then my group went home and they stayed in West J. I took a nap when I got back, had dinner, did homework, and organized my room for the rest of the night. I didn't feel like socializing much. I don't do well with those kinds of days. My day had started out really great, but turned into one of my worst days ever. I feel really bad about everything.