Maasa' Al-Kyhar! As taught by my brand new and absolutely hilarious Arabic teacher. He's like a Palestinian Mr. Weasel from "Newsies" with a kind of scratchy higher voice and a belly big enough to beat any friar in getting someone out of a church. He went around and asked us all our names and where we're from. When he got to me I told him that we had cows in the city where I was from. We then went back and forth for another two minutes trying to clarify if I had cows, if my family had cows, if we lived with the cows, if I WAS a cow, if I was a farmer etc. etc. etc. and the whole class was in stitches the whole time. Now when I talk to people I'm not as familiar with they're like, "Oh I know you...cows, right?" Yes. Just call me Bessie.
After class yesterday I went exploring with my friends that went with me to Hell the other day. They're a really fun pack because the guys know EVERYTHING and they're very protective, always having a guy in the back and waiting for anyone who stops to look at something or whatever. I feel safe and have lots of fun with them. Anyway, we decided to go to the Christian quarter. I don't know if you know, but Jerusalem is divided into four major ethnic quarters: Muslim, Christian, Armenian, and Jewish. So we decided to tackle the Christian quarter. Our first stop was St. Paul's Church. It's supposed to be the oldest church standing in its original form. We got to the courtyard outside the church, but it was closed, so we missed it. But it was a pretty little church just tucked into this random neighborhood and you had to climb through a hobbit-hole to get to it. Cool.
So then we went to the Church of the Redeemer. Now this was cool. We climbed up 167 tight spiral stairs to get to the top of the tower. Whew! Let me tell you, I was feeling the lunges I had done the previous morning! But it was worth it. From the tower you can see a spectacular aerial view of the city, especially the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Really, really neat.
We went to the Western City later to Ben Yehuda street, a famous Jewish and BYU student hangout. I sampled some falafel...mmm...and then we headed back to the center. We had FHE and then I got into an intense foosball match with one of my roommates and two of the funniest guys in this program. We lost, but we definitely held our own.
I had a special bonding moment with Kyle McComber (Allie's friend, James McComber's cousin, who is really cute by-the-way) while we were both up at midnight reading in the lobby. Our assignment included reading the Hammurabi Code from thousands of years ago. It included punishments for infidelity such as being strangled, having your eyes knocked out, or being impaled. Oh man, it was so late and we were so tired and we were so far gone and hopeless. We were rolling around laughing so hard about these bizarre punishments for such specific crimes. So funny. I don't know if I'll ever laugh that hard again.
Today, after class, I went with a group to the Dome of the Rock. I touched THE Dome of the Rock!!! I can't believe it. So cool. They haven't let tourists go inside for the past 8 years, but looking at it was cool enough for me. It's an incredible piece of work.
On the way home I got a tasty shwarma. SO GOOD! I can't wait to take you guys to get one! Yum.
Sorry this is not very descriptive...I've got a lot to do and I'm zonked. I love sleep.
Conclusion: Everyone should come here at least once in their life.