christmas for jews

It's been a busy few days! Monday we had a free day since we had a field trip on sunday. Well monday mornings are when a lot of Bar Mitzvahs happen at the Western Wall so I went with a group there to see what it was all about. It was really sweet. It's a huge deal to the Jews and I loved that. Then a group of us went on to a park in West Jerusalem and played ultimate frisbee. It was way fun except that I sucked. I need to practice my skills... It was sooo hot though so luckily there was a little creek that went through the park so we just ate our lunch with our feet in the creek and it was lovely. Then on the walk back to the center I found a miracle! A lady was walking down the street with a Dr Pepper! I chased her down and asked her where she got it. A perfect way to end my outing! It's funny how I can go years without drinking Dr Pepper but now that I can't get it anywhere I crave it all the time. I even kind of started liking Coke because that's the only thing they have here, but after that DP I remembered my roots :)



The real fun for the day was still yet to come! That night we had our center's replication of a Jewish Seder meal. This is the meal that Jews have on Passover. It was really nice and super interesting. Our Judaism teacher, Ophir, ran the show. There was lots of reading and singing and of course, eating! I had a narration part so lucky me, I sat at the head table right next to Ophir! I had to be on my best behavior :) My favorite part was the last song of the night that a few boys made up. It was a rap they had created and I even got a little shout-out in it. So I have this problem where I always forget to put sunscreen in my part which we all know is the worst place to get sunburned, so I always ask other people to put sunscreen in my part for me. So they made a little fun of me and said, "dang girl put some sunscreen in dat part." They said they came up with it because they were talking about parting the red sea. And the ginger jokes continue...







Last night a big group of us went to West Jerusalem in an attempt to go to a free jazz concert in the park. Well we got there and we were not by any park. I was just a tag-along so I followed and soon found out that no one had any idea where the jazz concert was at so we ended up just walking all over West Jerusalem. It was still fun though because I hadn't seen the West Jerusalem night life yet. Ben Yehuda street was fun. And we got a little creative with the graffiti doors...







Today I went to the Tomb of the Kings with a few friends. Sounds cool right? ha well it really wasn't. I still don't actually know what it is but it was fun. There was just this side door where we rang the doorbell and a girl told us they were closed. Then we asked when they would be open and she said, "uhhh I don't know." Sketch... Then they asked how many of us there were and we told them there were only 5 of us so they let us in and charged us 10 shekels each. I'm pretty sure it was just someone's house that happened to have this random archaeological site in their yard. So not knowing anything about it we just walked around and played a bit. Another check on my to-do list. ha.



After that we just went to a random Anglican cathedral. The best part was either the personalized chair cushions or Alfred, the very touchy janitor/self-appointed tour guide.



Now let me tell you one of the reasons why fall is the best time of the year to come to the Jerusalem center: We get to make olive oil! So today we spent a few hours picking olives on the many olive trees we have on our grounds. I have a tree right on my balcony so I mostly picked there. It was way fun though and now next week we get to press the olives and make the olive oil. It has already made me appreciate all the olive oil/olive tree references made in the scriptures. I love Jerusalem!



The other best thing about today is that it's Sukkot eve so all the Jews are making their Sukkahs to sleep and eat in. I really wanted to make one as well but I didn't get around to it. Maybe tomorrow. We celebrated by having a BBQ and dance party in the Oasis dining hall! Probably my favorite person here is Achmed, our cook. He treats us so well. The food is getting better and better. (and my pants tighter and tighter...)