Blogs from Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel, Middle East - page 44

Shalom y'all. In Israel now, and the first few days have been quite an experience. And it all started at the Newark International. Checking in began with a short round of questioning, mainly your reason for traveling and a series of leading questions to find out if you are Jewish. After informing them I was a goy, they let me check my bags, and told me they would meet me at the gate to search my carry-on bag. So I gave them my bag and waited. There was quite a group of us, all but one, as far as I know, non-Jewish. I was told to expect this, and given my facial hair, I sort took it as a given. A few people got their bags and boarded. Security then told me I would not ... read more

Dutch Version: Shalom, shalom. Ja, en toen stond ik zomaar in Israel na een jaar Zuid Amerika. Na de te verwachten extra scherpe controles in zowel Schiphol als Ben Gurion, Tel Aviv stond Michal me op te wachten om direct naar Jerusalem door te gaan. Haar moeder heette me de volgende ochtend van harte welkom en was bijzonder gastvrij. Zoals trouwens iedereen die ik heb ontmoet, familie, vrienden etc. Overal moest gegeten en gedronken worden. En vooral eten kunnen ze daar, oh man, i love it.... vooral de falafel, kebab, gumus, tahina, shoarma en weet ik wat al niet meer. De eerste dagen heb ik in Jerusalem rondgekeken. En dan vooral de oude binnenstad omringd door de oude vestingsmuren. Heel apart, vooral door de religieuze invloeden. Hier leven de christenen, moslims en de joden dus echt ... read more

hello all, today was a fun day of tramping all over Jerusalem. Ryan, Liz, and I went through the city and saw some recent archaelogical proof of first temple era. After that we went to the pools of Bethesda and saw the Damascus gate. Ryan left us to go to school and we tried to do the ViaDoloroza, which is the walk of Christ carrying his cross. They actually have groups that carry crosses and sing songs as they walk. It was interesting because the mosque started their prayers right before one of the cross walks started. Both groups were singing and it sounded like a competetion. Anyways, there are 14 stations of his walk that the churches celebrate. We saw the final five at the Church of the Holy Sepluchre earlier this week. Unfortunately we ... read more

So it has been two days since we've arrived in Jerusalem and we have seen a lot and we've already gone to my most favorite place (which I will tell you all about last). Yesterday we arrived in Jerusalem at 1am after Ryan kindly picked us up from the TelAviv airport in his rental car (which he rented for the weekend). As Nick told you, we got to see Jerusalem from a car point of view and at night and it was really eye-opening to the fact that we were actually in the Middle East and no longer in that little bubble, called the OC. We had arrived and after a long layover in France, where we got to experience a quick taste of Pari, we were taken to the Rosenbaums new humble abode. Oh and ... read more

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is starting to get into the Christmas mood. I am getting in the mood in Jerusalem as all the lights are up and quite often groups of people burst into Christmas songs in the churches which is nice to hear. Since writing last, I went to Mary's tomb which was really good. It was in a massive church and I had it (and the tomb) all to myself. It was next to the church of Getheme - which is where Jesus went to pray after the Last Supper and got arrested. Again I had that to myself and so that was good too. I then found the energy to walk up the biggest mountain in Jerusalem (Mt. Olive). Along the way I went to two more churches which were stunning (see ... read more