I adore free days. I'm soaking up the atmosphere of the city any possible chance I can get. I notice a lot of details I missed before, mostly focusing on the people of the city. I love the people that i'm around each day. Even if I don't get to talk to these wonderful Israeli and Palestinian people due to language barriers, i've grown to love them so much. We saw the Dome of The Rock one last time, which just seems like a regular thing now. Weird, ya? Also, super awesome surprise.. We saw OPHIR our Judaism teacher! We love him so much, and I really do miss his class. He's now teaching jewish students about Islam (kind of Ironic).It was so lucky to see him on the temple mount!
We rushed to meet cute Melissa and her five kids Cambree, Jorden, Taylor, Kaelen, and Jaikob. She beat me to a blog post! (Here) We wanted to walk around the city walls and visit all the gates... starting at Jaffa Gate, and working our way clockwise to New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod's Gate, Golden Gate, Dung Gate, and Zion Gate. We walked in place i've never been and made connections to navigate my way around the city! I think i've FINALLY got it down!
Inside New Gate.. Where it is prophesied Christ will come through in the second coming
New Gate
Oh snuggle snuggle =)
Damascus Gate
Little stop at Zedekiahs tunnel
Herods Gate
Lions Gate
Golden Gate from the outside
Dung Gate
Cemetary!
Zions Gate
Just playin a little bit of Hide-and-seek... He's hiding so well ha
Jaffa Gate
Melissa is such an amazing mom, and I loved to see her interact with all her kids. They're so well behaved, and were so so much fun to talk to. Sometimes I forget how much energy these cute kids have. I got reminded how much fun it is to run off their excitement for chasing cats, taking pictures, Kaelens big, bright "cheese!", the fun stories of naked mole rats, best friends, digging massive rocks out of the ground, play dates, and life as the family of a consulate worker! I secretly want their life. It's so fun to hear all about their adventures, especially here in Israel. Life would be SO different as a mom here. I didn't want it to end, but a dang paper was lurking at home.
One super great thing of the day... I've been on the market for a Hanukkiah and I found the same one jacqueline has, and fell in love... until I looked at the price-- 340 Shekels! There is absolutely NO way i'd pay $95 american dollars. Jacqueline got hers for 50 shekels. I told the shop owner absolutely not and walked away. J put on her charm and called us back. I got it for 50 shekels-- woot woot!
We held our Christmas concert tonight, which is always really popular for the locals. It's been sold out since before we got here and this is our only opportunity in the year to "proselyte" to the people of Israel. No pressure right? The individual groups did amazing, and i really hope that people felt the meaning of Christmas. It was really fun to meet some of the people, and the husband and wife that I got to talk to invited us over to see their sculpting studio. The countdown is on.. 12 days til I come home. I'm very mixed about it. I am ready for my mommas cookin' though!
Little history on the construction of the city:
This really could be where Lehi from The Book of Mormon lived!
Little history on the construction of the city:
Where oh where is that butterfly I want to transform into so I can watch ALL the amazing places, people and things you experience??? Especially as this all comes to a close. I thank my and your lucky stars especially for ALL the amazing people in your path. (Okay, so I don't believe in luck nor stars so I truly thank Him who created all.) You have been given more than a semester in Jerusalem. You have been given experiences, people, events, city, towns, rivers, seas, oceans, information, room mates, friends and a relationship with God that you will never ever forget. Thanks be to Him on high for allowing you this grand opportunity and thanks be to you for desiring to partake.
ReplyDeleteSshhhh - don't tell Brother Chadwick but I had to pull out my map before I could blog about the gates. There was no way I was remembering them all! Thank you for going with me around the Old City. We had such a great time and I can't even begin to express how much fun it was to spend a day with actual adult conversation - even when it was intermixed with mothering!
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