Shhh, Holy place, shhhh

Ok, so I must apologize for my brief hiatus from my blog the past few days. There was a lot of drama over the computer, and quite frankly, I didn't need or want the stress. I'm trying to make this as much of a vacation as possible dammit! The other reason why I haven't blogged much is b/c we get an awesome music channel here in Jerusalem. It's a Russian channel and I swear, they play the strangest videos...or maybe that's how all foreign music vidoes look! Anyways, I don't really have the time to fill you in on everything that's happened the past few days, especially since we have to be out the door, fully fed at 7:15 tomorrow to see some different worship services at the Church of the Holy Sepluchre tomorrow. So here we go!

Wednesday was spent at a few sites outside the city b/c Trisha thought we needed something more relaxing after our heavy walking day on Tuesday. I was just happy to see Taleb again. He is a funny funny guy; now all the time when we try to get on the bus by the back door, he'll open it a crack and then close it, and then open it a bit, and close it. We've taken to actually jumping on board when we get the chance!

Our first stop was a talk with Father Michael at Tantur, which I believe is a Christian group that is working on Christian Jewish relations, and also hosts peace groups, both Israeli and Palestinian. He had a lot of good things to say, for sure, but afterwards, I overheard some people say how they were glad to talk with him b/c he is the first unbiased person we've talked to. I think that is absolutely untrue. He is a 3rd party, certainly, but he has his own agenda and his own biases, just like everyone does. That may sound cynical, but I've come to realize, especially here, that everyone wants to convince you of their own viewpoints/agendas/causes. That's just the way it is. So the danger is that people listen to him, thinking him impartial and so take his word as truth. I feel that we, with all the conversations we have had with so many different people, have the opportunity, as well as the obligation, to take everything we have learned and form our own opinions about the situation here, opnions which will continue to change and develop as we learn more and hear more and continue to study and dialogue.

Our second stop of the day was a biblical nature preserve. At first, I thought we were only going to drive through the place, but then we got off the bus and walked around for a couple hours outside. It was windy but beautiful. Ahhhhh... The preserve has different biblical landscapes from different times and they use it to teach you about what the Bible really means when it refers to landscapes or farming. The place was fascinating. At the first couple of stops, the woman simply talked to us, which I'll admit, I didn't always listen to it all, but at the 3rd station, Katrina and Trisha and I pantomimed dancing to crush grapes. The group sang and we danced round and round, crushing the grapes. YoHan filmed it, so I can't wait to see the video! Haha! We also ate lunch there, which was Biblical type food, so there was no hummus and no chocolate! We're really starting to get desperate. We haven't had chocolate in soooooo long! It's actually painful!

After lunch, K and I went to the restroom (for the 6th time that day. Something was seriously wrong with us!) and while we were sitting there, she asked, "What's next?" menaing, what are we doing next. I answered with "wiping" and we both busted a gut! She didn't even realize where we were when she asked the question. Hahaha! We were both punchy by that point, and feeling stuffed, so we decided to walk for a bit while people shopped at the gift shop. We saw a sign for Abraham's tent (in Hebrew-ohel!) and went to go look at it. On the way I saw a hose and said, "Look a biblical hose." K responded with, "Just like they had in Jesus' time!" Then we saw the tent and there was a large log inside. "Look, a big log."
"Just like they had in Jesus' time!"
Finally, we saw a building that reminded me of a wigwam. "Look a wigwam!"
"Just like they had in Jesus' time!" By this point, we were absolutely rolling! Maybe you had to be there, but damn, sometimes she and I just get going and we can't stop giggling. It's fantastic!

On our way back to Jerusalem, we stopped off at a Crusaders' Chapel in Abu Gosh. The acoustics there were pretty good as well, so we sang "Salaam Alaykum" and then Cory sang "Ave Maria." She has a gorgeous voice! We went underneath the chapel to see another cistern, another hole in the ground. On the way out, YoHan was filming us, and K said, "YoHan! Just like they had in Jesus' time!" We completely lost it! We were laughing so hard, that we didn't notice a dog running by and it scared the shit out of us and we screamed. Brandie played with the dog for a bit, but when it got tired, it took a drink from a small pool of water. "Look, a doggie cistern. Just like they had in Jesus' time!" Freakin hilarious!

Our last stop on Wednesday was another church, this one was the one of the traditional birthplaces of John the Baptist. If you've been reading my blog, then you know how I feel about churches and you also know my skepticism, so it should come as no shock that I don't have much to say about that church, except that for some reason I always get "Oh What a Circus" from Evita in my head when I'm in churches/crypts. Apparently I always want to morn Eva Peron...who knows...

Random note...I miss color. I crave color. All the buildings in Jerusalem have to be built in Jerusalem sanstone or something like that. It's tan/sand colored. I want color. I need color.

Wednesday night, Trisha and K and I went out for a drink. Trisha took us on a walking tour around part of the city. She showed us where she stayed when she studies here for a semester. We ended up at the YMCA for a drink. Random, I know, but it had a restaurant with a bar, so we went in. Afterwards, we walked through the King David Hotel, where the rich stay, and saw some of the signatures from famous people on the floor. We also saw incredible chocolate desserts and I was quite jealous. We didn't get back until 11:20, we slept well that night! We did a lot of walking!

So now for Thursday...after breakfast (with chocolate croissants), Taleb drove us to the Dung Gate so we could enter the al-Haram es-Sharif, known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount. We had to go through security, including metal detectors, and apparently if you brought a Bible, they would confiscate it. No worries here! I didn't bring a Bible to Israel! While on the Haram, men and women were not allowed to touch each other. Eugene was giving Brandie a little backrub, but he got a look and stopped soon after. YoHan poked me a couple times later on and I had to remind him, no touching! We met Mustafa, a friend of Trisha's, who talked to us about Islam. One of the most interesting points I remember is that Muslims do not find the buildings themselves holy, so they are all for renovating. The place is holy. I appreciated that b/c I do base my faith AT ALL on the buildings. Then again, I don't base it on places either, but on people and interactions. The most inspiring parts of this trip, for me, have been some of the people we've talked to, not the places. Not at all. Anyways, we couldn't go in the Dome or the al-Aqsa Mosque. Ever since the 2nd Intifada, only Muslims are allowed to enter and they have you recite the 1st chapter of the Koran in Arabic to prove you are Muslim. That's only for security. You can be Muslim and not speak Arabic, but you won't get in the Dome!

The tranquility of the Haram was contrasted greatly with the Western Wall! Mondays and Thursdays are the busiest b/c family come to celebrate Bar Mitzvas on those days. There were people everywhere! We had to go through another security point and then men and women split up to go to our respective spaces on the wall, the women's side smaller, of course. It took awhile and some smooth moving to get up to the wall. I said a collective prayer for the ones from Cory and put them in. Then I prayed two of mine and put them in. My last prayer I waited until I could actually get close and touch the wall and pray for a minute b/f finding a good spot to shove in the prayer so it might have a hope of staying. I felt guilty praying long, especially as a visitor, and so I didn't stay long. I was actually disappointed in our visit there b/c it was so busy that I couldn't enjoy it, nor feel particularly spiritual.

We then went to the Yad Vashem Museum (hand and name for you Hebrew scholars out there) which commemorates the Shoah (Holocuast). I have a lot of thoughts on this, but I won't share them now b/c this is already a really long post. Ask me later. We also went to the Israel Museum, first to see a large model of the city of Jerusalem around the year 66 BCE. Then we went ot see some of the Dead Sea scrolls and I was in heaven!!!!!! They had a couple put so you could actually look closely at them and try to read them. I found words I knew, but the writing was very different in style. I could have stayed there for much longer, just looking at the scrolls. There were other things in that part of the museam, but I didn't waste time on those. Oh, it was incredible...

We met with Gershom Gorenberg that night. He is an author of a book we read on the Temple Mount and endtime prophecies, as well as a journalist. I'm not intersted in millenialism, as us Christians call it, and I am skeptical as to how much these thoughts play into the psyche of Jews and Muslims, so I didn't enjoy that talk as much as others.

Friday, holy day for Muslims. First thing I noticed this morning was the massive amounts of soldiers around the Old City. They send them in by the bus-full to keep people out of the city. Only Muslims 45 and older are allowed to enter the Old City to go to al-Aqsa Mosque to pray, although women of all age are, b/c apparently women can't be bombers. I guess. We took a bus tour of the seperation barrier with a representative from Ir Amim (city of peoples) named Eldad. He had some good things to say, but he pissed me off to no end. He is a Jew, and his language sounded like he felt superiority over the Palestinians. I was offended by his tone on behalf of myself, and on behalf of Taleb, our Arab Israeli driver, and Iyad, our Palestinian tour guide. I wonder to myself how they can stand to sit there and hear such biased and offensive language! I found out later that Ir Amim usually gives tours to Israelis, so then I thought I understood him using that language, b/c most Israelis would agree. However, if their goal is to change people's minds and effect change by influencing voters, then shouldn't their language reflect such a change? I was also struck that while Eldad does want peace, possibly a two-state solution, he has no problem with the wall. WHAT?!?!?! Hello, the wall and travel restrictions have turned West Bank Palestinain towns such as Bethlehem into open-air prisons, similar to the ghettos during WWII. How is that ok? I was amazed by that!

B/c of the security, we had to walk part of the way back to the hotel. A soldier didn't want to let Iyad through the barrier to get closer to the Old City to take us to our hotel. Iyad indicated that he was our tour guide and he even produced his documentation, but the soldier still didn't want to let him through. Finally, a female looking on waved Iyad through and the rest of us followed, w/o a hitch of course. That just illustrated first hand how Palestinians have to deal with how a soldier might be feeling that day to dictate whether they can come and go. Unbelieveble.

That afternoon K, Cory and I went to a protest about a 20 minute walk away from the hotel. The protest was the Women in Black, a group of 15 women who have protested the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank every single Friday for over 21 years. We got there late, but found Gila, a woman who knows Trisha, and we grabbed our signs and joined in. We got some nice insults yelled at us, including "Fuck you assholes" and "Whores, I hope you all die. Amen." What a great prayer! Other people would flick us off while driving by or come up to us and try to argue with us. One guy on a motorcycle came up and flicked us off, spat at us, and drove off. We did get a couple thumbs up and peace signs, but those were definitely the minority. I could say more about the experience and about the people I met there, but let me just say that I am extremely greatful that I went on this trip. W/o these past two weeks of education and talks by a variety of people, I don't know if I would have joined the protest. I am not anti-Israeli, nor am I anti-Palestinain. I have met wonderful people from both sides and I know that the situation is more complicated than black and white.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and I got everyone finished, hallelujah! I'm done shopping! The Old City market was crowded, as always, but I felt much more comfortable walking around in a smaller group. I felt less like prey and more like a normal shopper. Oh and I saw a whole shark hung up for sale at a meat market. Gag me. That evening we went to a Shabbat service at an Orthodox synangogue, not ultra-Orthodox, but still somewhat conservative. I can talk more about that later, but one funny thing...K and I saw an old man zip up his fly during one of the silent prayers...hahahaha!!! It was a great service, but much harder to follow along than the one I went to in Louisville, mainly b/c it was completely in Hebrew. I need to brush up!

Dinner was served by candlelight. K and I double-dated with B and Maryann. So romantic. K and I even played a little footsie...hahahaha! The meal was ok, except for the dessert, wich was AMAZING...Ice Cream!!! It tasted so fantastic! Our table asked for seconds, which we received, but it still simply teased me and made me want more...

Finally, today, Saturday, Shabbat Shalom! Today was the first time that K and I did not get up with the alarm at 5:40! We actually slept in until almost 7! Damn! Breakfast was a disppointment, no chocolate croissants! Boo! We walked to the Garden Tomb after breakfast, which is the Protestant tomb of Jesus found in the 1800s. It looks like an English garden (which put the song "Octopus's Garden" in my head) and is appropriately run by the English. Ok, obviously I didn't buy it at all. It seems to me that they had the story and they had the place, so they manipulate both so that they fit. I see a lot of that around Israel! But I'm a skeptic.

Our guide pissed me off. I'm sorry, but unless you're absolutely stupid, why do you say things which are insulting to women if the group you're talking to is mostly female? Why do you say it at all? First we said that the women who found the tomb were chatty, b/c women chat about silly stuff, while men talk about important issues. Bullshit! Then he said that the women had probably wished that they brought a strong man with them to open the tomb. Excuse me? They obviously haven't met us beatly women who load the luggage on the bus while the men stand by and watch. Trisha gave me a look during the second comment, that if looks could kill, I don't know if there'd be another human man left in the world.

The tomb itself was small and disappointing, story of most of the sites here, at least the disappointing part. We went to a couple of churches after that, but to be perfectly honest, I wasn't moved or even interested in any of them, so since it's already midnight here and my alarm goes off at 5:40, I'm going to hurry this up!

After lunch we went back to the Western Wall, and this time it was much less busy. The metal detectors and conveyer belts were turned off for the Sabbath, butour bags had to still be searched by hand. I enjoyed the wall much more today. I got right up there to the wall and, touching it with both hands, proceeded to pray my prayers from Thursday again. I also noticed that while all the other prayers were gone, the last one I put up was still shoved in there, so at least it's last a couple days so far!

K & B & I went shopping and walking b/c our evening meeting tonight. We helped B find what she needed to find and then walked around for awhile.

Dinner was an event! They had a DJ, so K and I danced b/f the meal and then again after the soup course. B/f they opened the buffet line, the staff paraded through with the main dishes (meat. ewww). The food was extremely disappointing, especially considering all the fanfare. And let's not even talk about the dessert...tear... However, at 8 a dancer came in. She really wasn't doing much more than popping her hip, but she started pulling up people to dance, so when she pulled me up, I popped my hip with the best of them. Then the DJ started teaching K and I a dance, and pretty soon half the people in the dining room (another group was there as well) were holding hands and dancing around in a big circle. I was so tired when we finally finished! Then the DJ put on "My Heart Will Go On," but most people were gone by that point. I swept Katrina into a slow dance and sang along. Then the DJ handed us a microphone, so we belted out the song! YoHan and Eugene filmed most of the dancing, but unfortunately, everyone was gone for the singing, so it was not recorded for posterity. Oh well...

K and I were pumped up after the dancing, so we got a bottle of wine to split and hung out watching the Russian music channel...now she's asleep, you have a general idea of my past few days, and I need to try and get some sleep. More later...tomorrow is our last scheduled day and then we're leaving on MONDAY!!!!!!

Oh, and the title of the blog, well, you have to hear YoHan say it, b/c it's hilarious! Basically, we've gotten sushed one too many times, so now we shush each other all the time! Basically, YoHan uses it whenever I'm being too loud or he wants me to stop singing for one minute. It's a running joke with us now though, so I just ignore him....shhh...