Israel Jan 22

What a gorgeous day!! We woke up and drove to the Haas Promenade, a viewpoint over a valley of the old city. It was a wonderful view but I just couldn’t seem to work it into a good picture. We took a group picture there and Chen told us all the things we were looking at, and then we got back on the bus and continued to the old city. On the bus I found out that Ronan loves Seinfeld and so do many Israelis. Israel just became a little more attractive to me when I found that out. The first thing we saw when we got off the bus at the old city was t he bullet holes in the side of the wall. Makes you count your lucky stars. We started walking through parts of it and it was as beautiful a city as there is, not only visually but historically as well. And luckily the weather was just as beautiful as the city. We walked by a residence in the city and Eva told me that it was owned by a rich American couple who hosts soldiers to dinner quite often. She had been there once before for dinner which is why she knew that. Along the lines of her getting special treatment, she told me later sometime that she got a pendant from the wife of the Prime Minister of Georgia when she came to her base. She showed me a picture of it. It wasn’t the prettiest piece of jewelry I’ve ever seen, but it was still really cool. But anyways, after a little while we had shopping time on own in a little market. Adam and Jenna guarded the end of the market where it turned into the Arab market. We weren’t allowed to got into the Arab market for safety reasons I guess. In the market, Nadav bought an “Israeli bagel” and let everyone try it. It was a big piece of dough that you dip in this salty, dry spice mixture. It was very salty but tasted quite good. We then left the market to head to the Western wall. We had to go through security to get into the courtyard of the wall. Because Andrew, Kyle, Lucia and I were way behind (because Andrew wanted to take a picture that looked like he was holding up the dome on the Dome of the Rock), we missed out on Ben’s little debacle. Apparently he didn’t tell anyone he had a knife longer than the width of his 4 fingers in his pocket, so he got caught at security. Nir tried to fix everything because he is in the service, but he wasn’t a guard like them (I personally would have succumbed to his charm). So Ronan had to help, and because he is a guard, they let Ben off the hook and Ronan had to hold his knife. Ben apparently would have gone to jail if Ronan didn’t save him. Hey, shit happens, right? So after we made it through security we headed to the wall. On the way I tried to take a picture of the Israeli flag flying in front of the wall, but the wind wouldn’t blow it. Bummer. Also on the way to the wall, there was a bucket thing with paper kippahs in it for people that didn’t have one to wear to the wall. SOUVENIER!! Before we put our notes in the wall, we went into the synagogue in the tunnel to the left of the wall. It was quite interesting, and I feel bad for the girls because they couldn’t come on the men’s side to see the synagogue. Men couldn’t go on the women’s side either, but I’m sure there was nothing as cool as the tunnel synagogue over there. Boo ya! There were some odd outfits, styles and looks in the synagogue and at the wall, including boxes on people foreheads and straps wrapping all up peoples arms. But who am I to judge considering all I wear ever is pajamas, sweat pants and gym shorts. Whatever makes you happy and gives you peace of mind. There was also a small part of the floor that was glass so we could see how high the wall was at one point and all the different levels of it. We then went to go put our notes in the wall outside. We all got picture doing it (Andrew, Kyle and I) and I put Raji’s note in for him as well as mine. I’ll never tell Chen, but I didn’t feel anything powerful when I was at the wall other than the history. I guess I wasn’t blessed with the gift of faith. The good thing about that though is it forces me to live the hell out of life until I die. When we left the wall we went to meet at the flag. I tried to get Eva to take a picture with me but she denied me. Devastating!! I would have shed a tear if it wouldn’t have ruined my reputation as a manly man. I’m an optimist though; I like to think she wouldn’t take a picture with me because I would have made her look bad (even though it’s not possible for me to make someone look bad in a picture, especially her). But hey, every time a door closes another one opens. And mine opened: the wind blew and I got my picture of the Israeli flag in front of the wall that I couldn’t get before. Hell ya!!! After we all met there we got a group picture and left the old city. I would have liked to see some of the Christian and Muslim sites while we were there, but I guess I’ll have to wait till I finally get accepted to the Southern Baptist Ministries Birthright trip. I’m crossing my fingers. After the old city I know we went to Mahane Yehuda, the marketplace, but for the life of me I can’t remember it. So anyways, we headed back after the marketplace and relaxed before Shabbat. The Shabbat dinner was quite good and afterwards everybody started pounding on the tables and clapping and singing for about an hour straight. We could totally make a Stomp video purely from Shabbat dinner. Later that night we gathered together for a little mitzvah. We snacked on all different snacks that people bought from the market earlier that day. We relaxed and talked afterwards for a while, until Eva decided she wanted to play “sheep”. So we gathered people and ended up with a huge game. I have never had more fun and laughs acting like a kindergartener. After “sheep”, Andrew, Laura, Shayna, Anna, Nir and I went to our room to play Yaniff, an Israeli game that, according to Nir, was invented by tankers. It’s a great game and it took the new people a while to get the hang of it. While playing, people started trickling in and watching, talking, playing music and whatever. Then Courtney came in and said, “I brought friends!” Behind her were 9 Argentineans, all guys (throwing off my ratio). Before we knew it we had 22 people in our room (Andrew counted). So of course, what else do you do with 22 people other than play “sheep”!! It lasted for a little while then everyone just started talking and what not. We were up late because we didn’t have to wake up till 11:30 the next morning because of Shabbat. I was tired so I got up and laid down behind Eva and Lindsay on Andrew’s bed just to relax. I guess I gave off some bad vibes doing that because, within 10 seconds of me moving, everybody had gotten up and left. You mess up the order and chaos follows. I like to think it’s because everybody was intimidated by me, and when the big boy is tired people get the hell out of his room. Wishful thinking. About 5 minutes after everyone had left, Laura and Anna came back in the room “looking for their key.” I think it was actually a classic case of the George Costanza leave behind, but what do I know. Either way, they got a heck of a show. When they came in, Nir and I were in bed (in only our underwear of course) and we both pulled our covers off to our waste to help look for the key (the ironic part is that Andrew, of all people, was the only one without his shirt off). I thought our rock-hard chiseled upper bodies were enough to make any girl melt, but Nir decided to bring out the big guns. He got out of bed and stood up in his tight underwear, with his FedEx package very prominent in the front and a tiger on his ass. What a fucking man!! And the best part is that he put a shirt on (common courtesy, of course), but it didn’t even reach his undies, so it left everything that was previously showing, showing. That was the moment that I fell in love with Nir Hunger. The rest of the story is for me and the other participants to know, and whoever reads this to…well…not know. Needless to say, we never found the key :)