Israel Jan 21

Today was Yad Vashem day. We woke up, ate and headed to the museum. Its ironic that the day we go to a museum about one of the darkest times in all of history is our first bright, sunshiny and gorgeous day. Beat that Alanis Morrisette. The museum is up on the side of a mountain and the view is quite decent. Our tour guide’s name is presently slipping my mind (probably because I never knew it), but he looked EXACTLY like a miniature Desmond from Lost. Desmond Jr. seemed to have Chenanitis, an untreatable disease where the victim suffers from a lack of ability to stop talking and takes forever to get to the point, but has great info that is very interesting when the listener puts all the facts together. I stayed a little behind the group the whole way so I could take my time and read and see everything. I took my headset off when I wanted quiet, and put it back on when I wanted to listen to Desmond Jr. The museum was truly amazing. We walked by the Garden of the Righteous, where trees are planted for non-Jews (I think) who did extraordinary things to save countless lives in the Holocaust. We saw Oscar Schindler’s tree, but we didn’t really get to walk through the garden. The inside of the museum had so many artifacts and pictures and stories, it was pretty indescribable. The most amazing thing to me was seeing an original copy of Mein Kampf. It was just a surreal moment. Seeing all different kinds of weapons, tools, clothes, possessions and other stuff and reading all of the stories that go along with them was mind-blowing as well. After we finished walking through the museum (I was the last one out with Courtney, and I could have stayed for hours longer), we went to another building and listened to a Holocaust survivor talk. He was 76 I think, and was a wonderful speaker. He also had a sense of humor about many things, which impressed me very much. That’s the kind of person I hope to be; someone that can stay positive and keep a sense of humor in any situation. I guess laughter really is the best medicine. After the speech we ate Israeli pizza (totally lives up to its reputation). We then hiked 5 minutes to the top of the mountain to Har Herzl, the national memorial where all ex-leaders and heroes, along with military personnel have the option of being buried. Theodore Herzl is also buried there, hence the name Mt. Herzl. Golda Mier is also buried up there. It’s an aesthetically pleasing place and we walked around most of it. This is where Chen told us about his time in service and how most of his missions are confidential and secret. We continued to get story after story from Chen and some of the soldiers and it turned out to be quite emotional. When leaving, we all washed our hands, which is ritual when leaving a cemetery. We then went back to relax and eat dinner before going to the incredible, amazing, mind-blowingly impressive Jerusalem Time Elevator!!! This was an interactive ride that was such an intense trip through history that we had to be pinned in by a bar like on a roller coaster at the state fair. Looking back now, my guess for the reason for the bar is so we don’t jump out of our seats from pure joy and excitement. The ride opened with a lady dressed as if she would be working at a hot dog stand in the mall, with a yellow suit and small cap on. She was standing outside our “elevator” on the screen. While in the middle of listening to the hot dog lady introduce everything, the elevator started to collapse and the seats shook. The lady looked genuinely concerned about our safety in the elevator and tried to help us. Unfortunately, we broke all the off and started falling. Down and down we went and the seats shook violently. My heart sank. They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you think you are gonna die. They are right. I saw Power Rangers, Captain Planet and that delicious steak I had in Peru. Heck of a life I’ve lived. As the opening line of Twilight most famously (sort of) says, “I’ve never given much thought to how I would die” (the only reason I know that is because my…uh…sister is watching it right now). I haven’t ever thought about it either, but I can’t say I ever woulda thought it would be in the Jerusalem Time Elevator. By what I could only imagine as the grace of God, our elevator got caught on something. The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes from the coma of fear I was in was an old man with a long beard in a Moses robe. I thought to myself, “I must be in Heaven”. It turned out he was just another guide, this time from the past. He took us past ruins and through stories and through mine tunnels reminiscent of those in Indian Jones movies. We even splashed into some water and, what do you know, water sprinkled from the ceiling and got us a little wet. The violent shaking of the seats along with the pure adrenaline rush of the history lesson excited me to sleep. I missed the last 15 minutes. When I woke up it was time to go clubbing. We had about 45 minutes to roam around before clubbing so we walked around for a little while. Eva bought this snack which is a marshmallow like substance (which she kept insisting wasn’t marshmallow) with a cookie underneath and all covered in chocolate. Quite delicious, but then again how could you go wrong with that combination? So we then went to a club called Triple, I think. It was upstairs atop a bar and it was a pretty small dance floor. But as I always say, it’s not about the size of the dance floor that makes the party, it’s how drunk you can get everyone. And considering the bartender got confused all the time and gave so many free drinks out accidentally, we did a pretty good job of getting drunk (besides myself and a few others). So it was a blast!! I’ve never had so much fun making a fool of myself. Eva dragged me out and got me dancing first, and I didn’t stop the rest of the night except for a breather from time to time. Reminders of how out of shape I am. Love those moments. And the three things from that night that stick out the most are Chen dancing, Rebecca doing her best to help me out with a favor, and most of all, Katherine trumpeting. I will forever be in love with her for doing that. She could possibly be the next Louis Armstrong. Eugene was a dancing machine as well. After clubbing we got back and the hall was loud for a little while before we went to bed.