"You dropped something: My Heart!"

Sabah elheir!!!

(good morning)

We have had a busy couple of days with classes, but yesterday (Sunday January 20th) we had a free day, so we went into the city to have fun! My group spent pretty much the whole day in the Old City:

we left as a fairly big group, and took some pictures on the way to the city...

Katie and I on our way to the temple mount

The Western Wall--we came here on Friday night to usher in the Sabbath, and this whole area (and then some) was completely packed. It was insane!!! They didn't want us to take pictures out of respect, so I don't have any with the huge crowd. The wall in the middle separates the men and women, who go up and pray at the wall separately. This wall is the western side of Solomon's temple (the only part remaining of the second temple). In Jewish tradition, this spot is the holiest on earth (apart from the temple mount, which they will not go on because we do not know where the Holy of Holies is and they do not want to defile it). They believe that the prayers of the world are sent up to heaven through this wall, and so it has become an outdoor Synagogue. People come from all over to pray and leave written prayers in the cracks in the walls. When we were down there on Friday, I was mostly amazed at the complete devotion of these wonderful people. I was very impressed and happy for the faith of these sweet Jewish people who were praying so fervently to God. 

Next we went to the Dome of the Rock (which is on the temple mount). This spot is traditionally called Mount Moriah in the bible, and is believed to be the spot where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac (Ishmael in Muslim tradition). This is also believed to be the spot where the prophet Muhammad ascended into paradise. The only people allowed inside the dome are practicing Muslims, so we didn't go inside. I've seen pictures though (you can look online if you are interested) and it seems to be literal large rocks commemorating the sacrifice and Muhammad's ascension. 

Katie and Me--the Dome of the Rock is located on a platform on the temple mount. The temple mount is traditionally the place where Solomon's temple stood.

This is where you can wash your feet before going up to the platform of the Dome of the Rock.

Apparently, these arches (which are on the four sides of the platform of the Dome of the Rock) are (Muslim tradition says) the scales on which your life will be measured at the end. My friend was telling me about it yesterday after we visited the Dome (he ended up talking to a Muslim man for a while and getting some cool historical insight...)

Me in front of the Dome of the Rock

The building was originally built in 687 AD by the Ummayyads during the Early Arab Period. It was refurbished during the Mamluk period (1291-1517AD) and  is covered in Turkish tiles from the Ottoman Empire (1517-1917 AD).

Tradish.

the guys that were with us doing their jumping picture...

We didn't go as a class, but we ended up being there in a huge group, so we took a picture of us all!

leaving the Dome of the Rock platform

In the Old City--we were in a smaller group from then on.

Funny Story: Lindsay really needed to use the restroom, so she looked all over for one and finally found this city toilette. (not seeing the sign she is pointing to in this picture). She and Kari (not pictured) went in to use the restroom, and Dustin (a guy in our group) waited for them outside. While he was outside, a shopkeeper pointed the Men's sign out to him, showing that the Women's restroom is up the street a little ways. A Spanish family came over right then and thought it was hysterical. When Lindsay came out (my small group ran into their group right about then), the Spanish man was laughing uncontrollably and took a picture of Lindsay underneath the sign on his own camera (and I took this one). haha--it was great! ;-)

Next, we went on the "Ramparts Walk" where we basically climbed the wall around the Old City and walked around the city on the wall. It was pretty cool! It was really neat (but it was a very long walk...)

Charlie's 4 Angels

you can see the Dome of the Rock behind

There are cats EVERYWHERE in this city, here are five or more of them rummaging through the garbage.

Janessa and I thought this was funny--there is a school in California where we are from that is called De La Salle :-)

I don't know her exact intent in this picture, but I'm pretty sure she said something about being like Jean Val Jean in Les Mis...

I crawled into one of the lookout stations

Katie and I with the JC behind us--it is so fun to have a cousin on this trip!!!

Afterwards, we went and got shwarma--it was delicious!!!

Shwarma and pita!!!

Overall we had a wonderful day!!!

-Erika

PS: again, the phrase in my title for this post came from a shopkeeper while walking through the Old City. Another favorite from this day was "Sexy Mormon Booty Shakin'!!!" Which I don't really understand, but it was pretty funny... ;-)