Sunday, February 10th

Greetings from Jerusalem!

This morning I went into the city with some friends. We started in West Jerusalem:

 We went to this store called "Hoodies" in West J where they sell sweatshirts and sweat pants (Hannah ended up getting some sweats that she was looking for) Jenessa and Lindee look excited in that picture...

We saw this giant statue of  a shekel (the New Israeli Shekel is the currency here)

West Jerusalem :-)

We went to this outdoor strip mall that had a ton of "American" type stores. It was fun to see that side of the city :-) (pictured is an Abercrombie and the other picture was a crocs store--I just thought the giant shoe was huge...)

We literally laughed out loud when we saw this... I took this picture partly because I love it and partly for Jeff (a guy in our group) who is a card-carrying anarchist ;-)

We went into Nike too--Spencer needed running clothes and he ended up getting those pants and shirt (but not the jacket)... Jenessa is just cute :-)

We ran into Chaille, Alissa, Taylor, and Tawny in the city :-)

Then we went to Jimmy's shop in West Jerusalem--he makes carvings out of Olive Wood and he loves BYU students, so he fed us today (pita and hummus and falafel and juice) :-)

Then I went to Omar's (another olive wood carver) and ended up buying a nativity (I had looked before, and I knew what I wanted and when I saw this one, I fell in love with it--it was exactly what I was looking for!) So I bought this one :-) Actually, I bought a different shepherd (the one I bought has a sheep over his shoulders)... I am shipping it home, so Mom and Dad--be on the lookout for this package! :-)

These two statues I am in love with. I think I have decided to get the one on the left--based on the Greg Olson photo with Jesus helping the children up the rocks. I like the idea of having my nativity to put out for Christmas, and another piece to keep out year-round. The one on the right is the Pieta, which is one of my favorite statues of all time. However, nothing can compare to Michelangelo, so I don't think I will get it...also it is extremely expensive and very very big...

 This one is for my roommate Kelli back in Provo-- it is an olive wood carving of Jimmer Fredette holding a basketball. the front of his jersey says "Brigham Young" and the back says "Fredette"--Kelli LOVES Jimmer, so I think she will appreciate this :-)

We had a great day and I am stoked about my nativity!!!

-E