Israel and Bethlehem!

Friday we started out the day at 5:30 and headed to where we are staying in Bethlehem. We had to go through border patrol from Jordan into the State of Israel. The checkpoint was crazy and we were there for about 5 hours. There was no organization of people and everyone was pushing and shoving, at one point a couple of us started making a block wall so our group could get through and no one else. We had to show our passports about 10 times and had to have our luggage go through scanners and be searched. Once we were finally through we checked in at the hotel we are staying at in Beit Sahour, then we went and explored Bethlehem the next town over for the rest of the night. First we went the church of the milk or whatever it is called; it is where Mary supposedly spilled some breast milk when on the run to Egypt. Then we went the church of the nativity and kind of sort of snuck our way in the back to see the supposed stone Jesus was born on. Then we went shopping in Bethlehem without our professor for the rest of the evening. Then after dinner we went to the 2^nd annual Bet Lethem live festival. It was really cool there were all these booths of souvenirs and food and 2 stages that had live music with bands from both Jerusalem and the UK. It was a long but fun day.

Saturday we spent almost all day in Jerusalem in the Old City. We had to go through the check point at the partition wall which separates the Palestinians from Israel. Thankfully we were tourists and got to go through the tourist gate which was not a big deal but the Palestinians have to go through a huge ordeal every time they want to go into Israel. First we went to the western (wailing) wall and tried to go to the dome on the rock but it was closed. Then our professor went off on his own and us students spent the day in the old city shopping and walking the streets. We also hiked up the Mount of Olives and saw the garden where Jesus was betrayed by Judas. We also went to the church of the holy speclicur the church where Jesus is supposedly buried. We also went to the church where the Virgin Mary is buried. Then we headed back to Bethlehem where we went to the festival again. It was very interesting seeing the old city and looking at all the tourist shops.

Today was a little crazy. We started early and went into Jerusalem so we could see the dome on the rock (the mosque on the temple mount). When we first got in a man came up and said it was a holy place and all the girls had to cover our arms even though we had our shoulders covered. We refused because it was a trap to get us to buy shawls at the only shop, but after a scene we had to give in because they were trying to make us leave. The weird thing was none of us actually used the shawls to cover our arms but since we had bought them they didn’t care. Then when we were there we witnessed a near riot as orthodox Jews tried to enter the temple mount. As this is owned by the Muslims everything got really crazy. The police had to set a barrier shoving the Jews out while protecting them from the Muslims. The Muslims had swarmed around the cops and were chanting Allah is god over and over. After this ordeal we got separated and I spent the day with two of the boys while the other group of 5 were together. The boys and I walked around new parts of the city then we climbed a fence so we could walk around the walls of city. It was so cool seeing the city and surrounding towns from on top of the wall. Then we headed back to Bethlehem. Us girls then hung out until dinner. For dinner we went to this Arabic chuck e cheese type place. We had chicken that was cooked using olive wood smoke. The would start the fire wait until the flames die then they bury the oven with mud and let the smoke cook the chicken. It was absolutely amazing. Now I am going to bed as we have to leave for the airport at 2:30 am.

This has been an unbelievable trip and I cannot believe all of the things I have gotten to see and do.