The rest of my week...in brief...sorry!!

Okay, so now I"m going to try to catch up really quickly, which isn't that hard because tuesday and wednesday this week were a blowout. We just did classes and homework, not very interesting. I did start my Modern Near East classes, both Judaism and Islam. Those are both very interesting, but there is so much reading for them! It's insane, really. That's why I haven't had much time to post this week. I will repent and be better, I promise.

Okay, so on Thursday, that was The day for me this week. I was caught up on my reading, and I was going out into the city no matter what. I hadn't been in two days, and I was soo ready to get out. Plus our last class ended at nine a.m. That always helps. So we went out into the city. The first thing we did was go to The Citadel Museum just inside Jaffa Gate in the Old City. (Also known as the Tower of David Museum.) It was a history of Jerusalem through all the ages, and we were required to go for a class, which is why a bunch of people went, but it was also so interesting! It was fun to see the models of the city and where everything was before the First Jewish Temple was built, then after it was destroyed, and then during the Second Temple period, and the Byzantine period and so on and so forth. It was really cool. Plus the building itself has history and was very interesting. I really enjoyed myself.
This is when you first walk into the entrance of the Citadel. It's kind of like a fortress. Very cool. You can kind of see the arch in the courtyard in the background.This is on top of the roof, which was all curved and weird, but it was intended to be like that. This is Kathryn, my roommate.
This is a view of the Old City from the roof of the Citadel. You can see the Dome of the Rock, the Lutheran Chruch (the steeple that's way noticeable) and i bet if the picture was bigger you could see the JC on Mount Scopus, on the Mount of Olives in the background.
This is Kathryn pretending to be the David, which Jon pretending to be Goliath. I just thought it was funny...

After the museum we were all pretty hungry, so we went and got a falafel. It was my second one in the city! Kate- when you were explaining them to me I was a little worried, but they're really good! I just can't eat them all the time, cause my stomach isn't used to them. Maybe it will get used to them, who knows. Now I just have to have a Shawarma, which is chicken roasted on a spit...I think? Haha it's been really fun trying the food here though. Our cooks/chefs are really good. Apparently Jimmy, the head chef, has cooked in five star restaurants. He just makes up most of our recipies for our meals. It's great! And then there's Muhammad, who serves the food in the line....and I don't know any of the other names of the people here. But they're all very friendly and VERY liberal with their portions. I don't think they understand the English for "just a little bit" or "I'll try....". They all speak Arabic, I think. But that's okay, right? I got really close to getting a small portion the other day. I said, "I'll have a little bit of that.." and I pointed and made a "little bit" gesture with my fingers. He did so great. He even knocked some of the food off the big spoon that he serves with, gave me a half scoop, and I was so thrilled I said, "perfect!" and he smiled, happy that he'd pleased me with the food, and gave me another large dollop. So, at least they want to make us happy, right? I almost made it. I'm going to try again sometime soon on the whole "small portion" thing. Maybe no such thing exists in the Holy Land ?

Anyway, after going to get a falafel we wandered around the stores for a while. There's this guy, Shaban, who sells always to BYU students. Everyone comes to find him. He even sells blue t-shirts with the BYU logo on it and "Jerusalem" added at the bottom :). Someone really helped him out sending him the BYU logo. I bet he's sold hundreds :). Any takers? I got one for me! I also got a cute skirt with a bold patter there. It's a wrap-around skirt. It's really great. And I got something else shopping that day too, but it's a secret!

I love you all! There is my Thursday 9-10-09!