Wednesday August 5th

Wednesday was pretty boring. I had NT in the morning for another two hours. It stinks that we are just learning that much more to be tested on this week, but at the same time we are learning about the Savior's last week and it so incredible to be able to study the Savior's life so much. After class I went running with Mason, shocker we are actually pretty consistent now! It was a good run and then I got my biking and other stuff in for the day. I spent the rest of the day studying and studying and studying for that stinkin ANE final. At 7 pm was a review with Dr. Skinner and it went really well. It was just a question and answer session but it helped me know things I needed to keep studying for better. After the review I was ready for bed even though it was only 8:30, so I got ready for bed and just planned on waking up early in the morning to study and write my paper. Yes, I had a 4 page paper to write before 5:00 pm the next day. It is called an aha moment paper and we have to think of a time when scriptures, history and geography really came together for us and gave us an aha kind of moment. I have had a lot of little aha moments, but not one I could really write 4 pages on, so I had to do a little research. I really liked learning about the Sicarii in class and Brother Skinner had compared them to the Gadianton robbers which made them even more interesting. I knew I wanted to write on these two secret combinations and then compare them to the secret combinations of our day, but I just kept putting off the actual writing part. So it was off to bed nice and early so I could get that paper done the next morning.

Tuesday August 4th

New Testament in the morning for two hours and then ANE for the last time in my life! Hooray! I've actually really enjoyed the class, but still, I'm glad its over. Then we had our last announcement session. It's kinda crazy, everything is our last now. Announcements were very memorable. Brother Brown scolded us for putting our feet on the furniture and turned out the lights and read a poem about goblins who get disobedient children and had a flashlight under his face and it was just great. I love that man, he has so much personality and is just so . . . him! Then Raven showed a James Bond movie her and some of the other students made and it was so good! I was very impressed and it was very enjoyable to watch. Then we had our last linen exchange, another last. For now on I'll actually have to wash my own sheets, stink. I must say, after changing my sheets every single week here I think I'll keep it up at home. It's so wonderful having a nice clean bed all the time. After linens it was lunch and then I spent the rest of the day getting a run and workout in and studying for my ANE final. Ugh, I can't believe we really have finals this week, I'm so sick of school and my life is going to bliss when they are all over. At this point all we have is finals, and then two field trips, a couple free days and then it is home sweet home! I am ecstatic, I'll be home in ten days! I can't wait to see my family. After studying it was goodbye and goodnight.

Sunday August 2nd

Today is a free day and then the rest of the week will be crazy with classes and finals and field trips. We only have three field trips left, one tomorrow and two next week! Wow, this next week and a half is going to fly. I woke up and went to breakfast and then called my parents. I finally heard all about my Mom's birthday and was really glad she had such a great birthday, and of course really sad I couldn't be there with her. After talking to them I gave my Nana and Papa a call. My Papa was supposed to have surgery on the 31^st of July, but after the ward fasted and prayed and he got a second opinion and talked to some other doctors he found out he didn't for sure have to get it! So instead of recovering from surgery, they are going to leave to the boat tomorrow! I'm very thankful that he feeling healthy and that I'll be able to be there when he gets surgery if he has to get surgery. Life sure can be crazy. I forgot I had planned to go running with mason at 8:45, so I had to kind of abruptly end the conversation with my Nana and Papa, but they said I could call them in Washington or when they get back. Mason and I ran 3 miles outside today at a 7:43 pace which isn't great, but isn't bad. Then I went in and biked for an hour and a half, giving me a total of 10.5 miles for the day! Woo hoo, I feel good (na na na na na) – I knew that I would! Ha ha, I'm excited it was such a good workout day. After biking I did a good ab workout and stretching, and then I took a bath and showered and then I just felt good for the day! Rach, Erin and I went to Hebrew U to check up on some things and then we were supposed to feed the babies at 3:30. Well, we lost track of the time a little bit and didn't leave Hebrew U until 3:20. We ran back to the center and then ran down to Red Crescent hospital and we made it there by 3:32. The nurses asked if it was hot outside and we said yes and then they said they could tell by the sweat on our foreheads – that's a little gross. After that it was back to hanging out in the center until dinner.

West J: After dinner there were 15 girls all wanting to leave to West Jerusalem, but we couldn't find a boy who wanted to go. Jonah finally agreed to go and so he walked over with 4 of us girls and then the other girls were going to take a van over and meet us there. While we were waiting for the van girls we made up a little song of appreciation for Jonah. I made up one and so did Rach actually, and then we made a video filming our wonderful award winning songs.

My Song:    Jonah is my name
            15 ladies is my game
            West Jeru every night
            Yeah, I know it's tight
            Except for when they fight
            Over me . . . that's right

Ha ha, it was great fun. After that we met up with a big group at the waffle shop, but before that got a little bit of exploring and shopping in. So I had heard only good things about those waffles, but they were amazing! They make waffles and then put different stuff in the squares. You can order butter cream or butter scotch, or vanilla or chocolate, or anything and it is so good! I got one and split it with Rach. We got butterscotch and it was warm and wonderful, and so wonderful in fact I had to go back for another one. This time Dan split with me. I got butter cream which wasn't as good as butter scotch, but it was still delicious. Rachel, Trish, Kenzie and I were talking about how well a waffle shop would do in Provo, it would be like J Dawgs, everyone would love it! You could do a little stand where you get hot chocolate and waffles. The nights here are absolutely beautiful. It's warm, but not hot, and I just love sitting outside. After we were done eating we were sitting and talking and there was this full waffles somebody left, just left there. Well, I got dared to take a bite, and it looked not too bad and I couldn't turn down a dare, especially when it involved food, so I did it! We got the whole thing on film, and honestly it tasted just fine, the waffle was just a little cold. We looked around for a bit and then called a van and rode home. That night we were going to whip out the pop rock chocolate and a movie, but realized we had a field trip bright and early and instead just ended up turning in for the night, the better choice.

Saturday August 1st

Today was my very last Sunday in the Holy Land, I can't believe my time here is finally coming to a close. I feel like I've been here forever, but then again there is still so much to do and see. Two weeks seems like such a short amount of time, but also such a large amount of time. It is still two weeks until I'll be able to be my family again, but on the flipside I only have two weeks left in the Holy Land. All these thoughts were running through my mind as I sat in sacrament meeting looking over the Holy Land knowing my time here is limited. All these thoughts and feelings helped me to really appreciate our Relief Society lesson. The topic was Priority Packing for our Permanent Home and Sister Skinner taught the lesson. We first discussed all the things we thought we'd miss when coming to the Holy Land. I knew I would miss my family and certain foods and stuff like that, but I surprised myself with some of the things I missed. Here are some of the things I have missed the last couple months: my family, my clothes, cleaning around the house, playing outdoors, swimming, my mom's crazy projects, waking up early and watching cartoons, making my own food, having no agenda, service, teasing and being teased by all my brothers, little kids, running alone, driving in the car with the windows rolled down and blasting music, staying up all night talking with my mom and watching Gilmore Girls, seeing my dad awake and reading scriptures in the morning, Panda Express and Costa Vida, the temple, ice water, and much much more. There is so much I miss from home and that makes me realize how much I will miss when I leave this wonderful place. Sister Skinner prompted us to think about the different things we want to take home with us. Here's my list: reading my scriptures first thing in the morning instead of squeezing them in at night, journaling up the wazoo, really studying the scriptures instead of just reading them, close relationships with some incredible daughters of God, being humble and realizing how blessed I am and how much the Lord has given me, excitement for each and every day because life is an adventure, anticipation of Shabbat, preparing for Shabbat physically and spiritually, my desire to share the gospel, the constant attendance of the spirit, the call to prayer five times a day (even though I won't listen to it, I want to remember to keep a prayer in my heart and pray always) and my strengthened testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. These are just a few of the things I want to bring back with me but I know that I'm bringing home so much more. More than anything I am thankful for my testimonies and if I had to leave everything else here I would still be content bringing home the knowledge I have that my Savior Jesus Christ atoned for my sins in the Garden of Gethsemane. He has felt every pain I have felt, every yearning and every sorrow. I know that he loves me and would perform the entire atonement over again for me alone. I know that Christ died on the cross, his final mortal act of love for me and all of Heavenly Father's other children. After three days Christ was resurrected and this act brings up hope for the future. We too can be resurrected and live in the presence of God in the eternities. This is all a part of Heavenly Father's divine plan and I know that this plan was established before we came to earth and we are actively participating in the plan. I know that if I live worthily I will be able to be welcomed in to the Celestial Kingdom and be not only with my brother Brady and the rest of my earthly family, but with my big brother Jesus Christ and my loving Father in Heaven. These things are not just a belief I have, but they are a part of me and I testify that they are true. I love this gospel and I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to be in the Holy Land and strengthen my testimony of these precious truths. Sister Skinner closed the lesson by referring to Lot's wife. She was commanded not to look back, and yet she did. Heavenly Father wants us to look forward in faith. I don't know exactly what is going to happen when I leave this place, in fact I don't even really know what will happen in the next twenty-four hours. I do know that my Heavenly Father has a plan for me though and that he will guide me to do the things I need to be doing and so I have no fear as I put my heart in his hand and look forward to each and every day and the surprised it may bring. Goodness gracious, I do love church here! It has become a special and sacred time and I hope to keep those three hours once a week sacred and special for the rest of my life.

Garden Tomb: It is simply amazing that after having such a wonderful church meeting I then have the opportunity to visit sacred and holy sites. Today we went to the Garden Tomb and sometimes I feel like it will be hard to feel the spirit after walking down and uphill in the heat and being sweaty and just feeling disgusting, and when I walked in there wasn't an immediate presence of the spirit or anything, just a lot of people and commotion. I decided to first go inside the tomb and as I started thinking about the events that had taken place at this site, or at a site similar to this one the spirit overcame me. Once again I was alone with the spirit and my thoughts despite being in a crowd. When I was done looking inside I took a walk around the beautiful garden surrounding it. There are several nice paths leading to different quiet spots and I was trying to find a place where I could be all by myself and just have some alone time. Well, that's exactly what all the other Mormon kids were doing, so every quiet alone spot was taken. As I walked to the place where you could see Golgatha from I was once again filled with the spirit. I sat on a bench and pulled out my scriptures and compared the picture in my scriptures to the sight before me and they were perfect matches. I've heard the story of the crucifixion and I've been told it could have been here, but putting my scriptures up to the site I knew that whether or not these events occurred here, the events did occur. The spirit was just so strong and I just felt so much peace. I sat for a little while and then walked around the garden just admiring the beauty and then I found a special alone spot for me. It was surrounded by green and just felt right. Today I wanted to ready the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection from all four gospel writers, so that's what I did, starting in the book of Matthew. Just like in Gethsemane I loved reading the four right in a row so I could get all the details at once and see the differences and the similarities. I feel that as I read these writers books I get to know them and their character better, and also I come to better understand their relationship with the Savior. Their relationships are examples to me and help me know how and what kind of relationship I can build with my Savior. So my alone spot turned out to be not so alone, but it ended up being a good thing. A tour group came and sat near me and as the tour guide bore his testimony I was grateful to be hearing it. It is a testimony builder to me when people not of our religion bear testimony to the things we believe in. I know that this man testified of truths and I know that he believes them for the same reason I do. He can feel them and the spirit whispers that these things are true to his heart and his mind. When I was all done reading I went down to the tomb once again and entered in and me and Rachel made a short little video sharing some of the thoughts we had that day and whatnot, and then of course we took a couple pictures and then caught a bus back to the center. We are the first group they have allowed to take buses and it is kind of an experiment of sorts, but I am grateful to be the guinea pig because it made it so we could stay in the garden longer and still not be late to dinner.

Temple Recommend & Musical Fireside: I broke my fast and ate dinner as soon as I got back, and as I broke my fast I realized how grateful I am for fast Sundays. I was literally excited to start my fast last night and I didn't feel hungry at all today. I think I finally understand the power of fasting and I know it is a blessing that I have the good health to be able to fast and I am thankful for the opportunity I have to fast each and every month. One thing I fasted for was that the last two weeks I have here I will be able to feel the spirit and feel close to my Savior and my Father in Heaven and already today I feel like I have been blessed in that way. After dinner I checked my emails and wrote some and then I got a temple interview. President Okiishi interviewed me and as he asked me the questions I couldn't help thinking how happy I was that I could answer those questions and be worthy to receive a temple recommend. Even though I haven't been able to use my recommend here I am glad I brought it as a reminder to be worthy of holding a recommend at all times and I know when I go home and see "Jerusalem Branch" written on my recommend I will be reminded of the spirit in that office as Brother Okiishi asked me about my testimony of important gospel principles. After my interview I journaled about my day and then we had a musical fireside that consisted of a large number of musical pieces put together by the students here. I appreciate the time and effort the students put into preparing those pieces and I also appreciate the spirit they brought to the fireside. My very favorite number was a piece Bridgette wrote. She knew she wanted to write a song when she came and she wrote a beautiful song called "I Will Know". When she performed it she sang and played the piano and just sounded great and brought such a strong spirit to the room. Some people have a spiritual gift of being able to bring the spirit to a room quickly and Bridgette definitely is able to bring the spirit through her music. She explained that her song is her testimony and I think that is why it meant even more to her and to all of us. It was a quiet and peaceful fireside where we were able to enjoy the talents of people in our group and feel the spirit music can bring. I think in my next ward I would like to join the choir to strengthen my testimony on the power of music.

After the fireside we had branch prayer and it was super long because they are trying to get everybody sneeched on before we leave here. We sang Praise to the Man, one of my favorite hymns, and heard lots of testimonies and it was just a good branch prayer. After that we started a movie with Emily Willis but I was tired and decided just to sleep through the movie, and the other girls thought both movies they started were lame, so they ended up just turning them off and going to bed too.

Friday July 31st

It's my mom's birthday! I tried to call her, but got her answering machine. Too bad, I'll have to try again tomorrow. Today we had NT and ANE in the morning and then we were taught by our home teachers – yes I know it was the very last day of the month, but we got home taught.

Home Teaching: So for our lesson Carrie talked about the worth of souls. He quoted the scripture saying that the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. We then went around the group, and each person told the person to their left why they thought their soul was of worth. Trisha was on my right and when it came to her I received one of the nicest compliments I have ever received. Trisha said she loved me because I was concerned about her welfare and just loved her and talked to her and gave great advice. What I really loved is that she said she loves talking to me because when she does she feels the spirit. I found this to be somewhat interesting because yes I have felt the spirit when talking to Trish, but I haven't noticed anything really different and I didn't think I was doing anything special to invite the spirit. I am grateful that together we are able to bring the spirit into our conversations and I know that the good advice comes from that spirit and not from me. I got to compliment Matt and my favorite quality about Matt is that he has such a great desire to do good. He truly just wants to be good and do good things and he also has the discipline to do those good things and I think that is really admirable. So as you can tell home teaching was great and I think it was a good note to end on.

After that it was time to work out. Mason and I went for a run outside the center and went two miles and I felt pretty good. My leg bothered me a little, but wasn't painful. Dustin said I can run as long as I'm not limping, and I'm totally planning to push myself super hard the rest of the time here and just work hard to be in shape. I decided to bike an hour and a half which is equivalent to about 7.5 miles, so that means I got 9.5 miles of training in today and I feel pretty good about that. I felt good and I didn't hurt and I loved it! Boy it's great to really get a good work out in, it reminds me why I love running so much. I showered and barely made it to lunch before the doors closed and then I blogged and blogged until 2:15. We had our humanitarian service thing at 2:30 and I went to help set up. We made hygiene kits for a handicapped program for the month of Ramadam. It was the huge assembly line thing we've done all semester and it was a lot of fun. We had visitors come and help, so that meant we had a little break in the middle with refreshments! They feed us chocolate bread here that is amazing! Oh, and all the fruit is top notch too. We play music and dance and talk and serve and it is just a really great time. I love service. After that I blogged some more and then duh duh duh – dinner time. Then at 7:00 we had a foosball tournament and Rachel and I were on a team together. We were originally going to be on different teams, but both of our partners dropped out, so it worked out perfect. We had a really fun time and played a bunch of games. We beat everyone we played except Brent. I hate to admit it, but he was good, and he knew he was good, which is why I hate to admit that he was good. The only annoying thing was that they were waiting for people to get back from synagogue to start the real tourney, so we were just playing games. The synagogue people didn't get home until after 9:00 pm, and we had already been going for two hours and I was worn out and we were just kind of through with it. So we borrowed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button from Elise and all settled down on our mattresses and watched the movie. I'd only seen the first hour and I wanted to see the rest, but even now I don't know how I feel. It was interesting, but I wouldn't call it cute. It was just kind of weird and ended a little sad and I don't feel the need to see it again. It was a fun night though just talking and enjoying the roomies company, it's going to be strange not living with these girlies when I leave here. After the movie we chit chatted then went to sleep.

Thursday July 30th

It's Christmas in Jerusalem today! Ok, so not really, but there is a Christmas program on our field trip tonight, so we decided to celebrate Christmas all day. This means playing Christmas music at every possible opportunity, including over breakfast and in the gym. Another exciting thing about today is that it is the two week mark. In two weeks I will be getting on a flight heading home! Wow, that is unbelievable! So this morning was cleaning checks, and with Annie moving back it was the easiest cleaning checks ever because she did so much! We passed with flying colors and got kit katish candy bars called Mementos and they were very good. Trish didn't want hers so she gave it to me, so I thought I'd be nice and share it with people sitting around me in New Testament, and nobody would accept free chocolate. Ok, so Monica and Eric did, but still, I offered it to three people before someone said yes and I was very surprised. New Testament was two hours today with a ten minute break in between the two hours. Brother Masters' class only had one hour so they were done when we were on break and I was so jealous. I love what we are learning but I'm sick of sitting in classes, it will be good to have a little break between these classes and fall semester. Luckily the two semesters consist of very different classes so it'll be a fresh start in fall. After class Annie and I worked out together and I love having a work out buddy. First we stretched and read scriptures out loud as we stretched. Then we rode on the bikes together and talked to Emily Page all about her wedding plans, the colors, the dresses, the decorations, just everything. It was kind of funny though because Annie was planning a wedding and now she's not getting married anymore, so she has her colors and dress and everything already done and she doesn't have a boy. Oh, and Emily isn't even engaged yet, so that added to the funniness. Isaac was in biking at the same time as us and if I was him I would have been cracking up as three girls are sitting there talking about weddings when none of us is even engaged. I got in a really good work out today. I biked an hour and then ran a mile and did abs and a lot of stretching and it just felt great. After working out I showered and went to lunch and then worked on my blog for a little. We had a field trip at 2:30 and at about 2:15 Annie came in and told me she was supposed to read the Christmas story at the Christmas program that night and asked if she should do anything special. Well, a Christmas pageant came to mind and we rushed to grab costumes and props for our pageant. We wrote the script on the bus and put hymns with it and ok'd it with Brother Huff and were super excited!

Herod's Summer Palace: Our first stop on the field trip was King Herod's Summer Palace. It is a very nice place and it must have been quite a site back in the day, but now it is kind of ancient and just plain dusty and dirty. We saw the cisterns there and where the baths would have been. We saw the synagogue, the living quarters, and the main tower. Herod died at his winter palace that we saw earlier in the summer, but was buried at his summer palace. It is on a man-made mountain that looks like a volcano with the top cut off and included many big pools. It was the baby's in the surrounding area, including Bethlehem, that King Herod had killed because he feared that this Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews was a threat to him and his reign. It was fun looking around at his palace, my favorite thing was probably the cannon balls he left behind. Yep, huge rock cannonballs that would have been flung in a catapult of sorts, or simply rolled down the hill onto some unfortunate enemy.

Plains of Judea: After this stop we headed towards the plain of Judea. On the bus Brother Brown approached me and Annie and told us we were not allowed to bring sheets or bed covers from the center out of our bedroom (that's what we had grabbed for angel and wise men costumes). We apologized and told him we had forgotten and then told him what their purpose was. We asked him if we could still use them and at first he was reluctant, but then said it would be ok if we put them in something safe to take out, told the people wearing them to not let them touch the ground, and then put them back in our safe container after. Well, we didn't really have a big garbage bag or something like that on us, but we did have my little Nike backpack. We tried to fit it all in, but it wasn't working out so well. Then I started looking around the bus and found a pillow and decided to use the pillow case. It was a tender mercy of the Lord that I was able to find that pillowcase in our time of need. When I took of the pillowcase I found another pillowcase underneath! Wow, Heavenly Father really will help us out in our time of need. We were able to fit everything in the two bags and took it all out onto Judea's plain. We had time to eat dinner and just found big rocks to sit on. Dinner was sack lunches from the center, thank you JC kitchen staff for always making sack lunches for us! About six we started our program, the pageant was the first thing. Annie was the narrator and she did a really good job and I think she was proud of what she did. Rachelle was Mary and she had a legit Bethlehem blanket wrapped around a water bottle and of course a little head scarf. Jonah was Joseph and he totally rolled his eyes when we asked him to be a part of our pageant, but he did a great job. It was so cute, he put his arm around Rachelle and just guided her to Bethlehem and then looked at our water bottle in a blanket and really got into the part. We had Bethany and Hannah as angels, dressed in our white sheets that didn't touch the ground! Our wise men were Alex, Tyler and Chadwick and they were dressed in kafias and then our bedspreads from the center as capes. Our shepherds were Eric, Russell and Brother Huff and they also had kafias and then Audrey and Regan were there sheep and they wore white hats. They were super cute and baa'd at all of us and I think they had a fun time. It ended up being a really cute pageant and I think everyone had a lot of fun. I couldn't help just feeling so much gratitude for my parents during that program. I am so blessed to have been raised in the church and been able to do a Christmas pageant with my family each year. Not only do I know the bible and Book of Mormon stories I have learned in my youth, but I also have learned how to organize things like pageants. We were able to whip that thing together so fast and it turned out really well and I know it's because of things I learned from my parents, so thank you Mom and Dad. After the pageants we had a Christmas story from Steven, and then Lydia told us about what happened in the BOM when Christ was born. Brent played the guitar and sang Silent Night with Mandy and Mariah and then later Andy, Mariah, Camille and Isaac sang O Come All Ye Faithful and then we had a story from Brother Huff. He told us the story of the soldiers and the Christmas truce and it reminded me that truly Christmas is a time of peace and love and good will towards all men and I think that is why I love it so much. We finished off the night with testimonies, then a closing hymn and prayer. It was a great night on Judea's plain and I loved it! I have loved listening to and singing Christmas music all day and I think I might even keep it up for a couple more days.

The Bus: So as we were waiting to board the bus I realized that the 50 oz of water I had drunken for dinner wasn't going to stay in me much longer and I was getting a little desperate. I know everybody wants to know all about this part of my life, but I ended up hiking down the side of the plain of Judea and finding some nice olive trees that would work as good cover and there I took care of business and luckily had a napkin from dinner to help me out. I am somewhat proud to say that I am the only person out of all 79 students that was able to truly leave their mark on Judea's plain today. When I got on the bus I couldn't find the pillow I had stolen the pillowcases from anywhere. I made an announcement on the bus and nobody claimed them. At this point I was thinking that Heavenly Father had put the pillowcases there just for me to find and that there was no pillow anymore. I was convinced this was the case when Brother Huff suggested I asked the bus driver. So I did and they ended up being his, but I still consider being able to find those pillowcases a tender mercy and I am so thankful we were able to have our pageant on the plain of Judea.

Trisha & the Secret Vine & Bed: When we got back to the center Trish asked me if I was hungry and I said a little and so she said she had a surprise for me. She was being all secretive and wouldn't tell me where we were going and took me up to the 5^th floor, and then to the 6^th, and then to the 7^th and then outside. I was confused at this point since she said we were getting food. Then she took me to the western wall of the center, the one I go and sit on when I'm homesick during church and there she showed me something absolutely marvelous. It was ripe green grapes! A big vine of them! We sat on the wall with our feet dangling and just talked about life and everything and it was a really good night. It was shockingly cold though, so after a while we went inside. I am very glad that Trisha has been my roommate here in Jerusalem and that I have been able to get to know her so well. She is a very good girl and has a very good heart, I look up to her and her wonderful example. After our little adventure we went to our room and played Christmas music as we got ready for bed. Then I journaled and stretched with Annie a little and then went to bed!

Wednesday July 29th

Today we had one hour of New Testament and then I went on a run with Mason. We went about a mile and a half, and my leg was bothering me, but I stopped before it hurt too much. I then hopped on the bike for a while, showered and got ready for the day. Alyssa, Rachel and I went out on the Old City during our free time. I had to run to the post office and they both had a couple errands to run and so we got all that good stuff done. It was a nice lazy day, just taking our time walking around the city and getting what we needed to. At the post office it was crazy as it always is. You literally walk in the door and take a number and then sit and wait until your number pops up on the TV screen and then you go to the window it says on the screen. I am very thankful they use the same numbers we use in the English language or I would have been rather lost! For lunch we had sack lunches that included cheese pita sandwiches, as in pita with just cheese inside. I wasn't too excited about that and neither was Alyssa so we stopped by the famous 7 shekel falafel shop. It is right inside Damascus gate and they have the yummiest sauce ever. I had never been, but pretty much everybody else at the center has. You know, I didn't use to like falafels but now they are kind of growing on me, what is happening to me! I am loving the smells and foods here more and more, I might even miss them! When we were all pretty pooped we went back to the center and had a little bit of time before dinner which I spent cleaning out my stuff and figuring out exactly what else I need to get in the Old City before we leave and I just listened to music and enjoyed myself and then Rach showed me a bunch of pictures from last summer on her computer. We are both just kind of homesick and ready to go home, but we've decided we just really needed to live up the last two weeks now because when we go home we'll probably wish we were still in Jerusalem. Dinner tonight was a Ramadan celebration! So one month of the year the Muslim people fast from sun up to sundown. This year it doesn't fall until August, but as a cultural experience we did a little Ramadan dinner. Before dinner we met in the forum where we heard part of the Koran sung, and we also listened to the call to prayer sung by a sheik, two actually, it was a father and his son. We also got to see them say their prayers. Every single day I hear the call to prayer on the loud speaker things all over the city, but I've never actually seen somebody singing it and it was neat to be able to connect this song we always hear to real people who really pray five times a day. The food for dinner was . . . interesting. Let's just say I left hungry. There was lamb cooked with rice and other stuff that wasn't bad, but it just tasted fatty and like a casserole gone bad kind of. There were some salads that were minty in a way and not your typical salad, but decent tasting. Desert was my favorite. There was kanaffe, and I like it even better than the stuff I had in the old city. It was sweeter and not as cheesy. I also had hot chocolate which was wonderful. That is a staple in life, hot chocolate all year round! After dinner we all went into the gym and did folk dancing. There were these three guys from a folk dancing team who came and taught us how to dance and we all got in one big circle and did the dance together. It was a very fun night! After Ramadan was the highlight of my day – talking to my family! I got to talk to them for a really long time just about everything. I love talking to them when they are just going about their day, it makes me feel like I'm right with them. They were on the way to Trafalga for one of our summer field trips. I would love to be home spending time with them, and I would also love for them to be here with me experiencing all this crazy stuff. Soon though we'll all be together again! After talking with my family I tried Dustin and got a hold of him. I talked to him about my leg and got advice on what to do and my mom has been talking to Dr. Faux and they are going to work some stuff out and hopefully we can get my leg worked out before cross country starts because I really would love to be able to not only compete this season, but be competitive as well. After talking to Dustin it was late late late, so I got ready for bed and turned in!