Pictures

Ok people, more pictures that I borrowed from the rest of the Birthrighters.


Robby and me helping to "pimp out" Brian.


Our guard/medic on Birthright, Michel. I nicknamed him "Toy Soldier" because he's about 80 pounds and the gun he carries is from the 60's. It's old and looks plastic.


The Old City in Jerusalem, where we are currently staying.


Everyone on the bus gets really sleepy or they go to sleep because they are too scared of watching the eminate death that is sure to come everytime the bus drives near a cliff or through a busy intersection.


Look, my new pet. I couldn't get an elephant so I decided a smelly, dirty camel would be a lovely replacement.


The flags in "No Man's Land" - halfway between Jordan and Israel at the border.


This cool army dude hanging out with his truck.


Our digging in the dirt adventure or Robby's, "Ohhhh, caves!" expedition.

So, Robby and I are currently staying in Old City Jerusalem at a free hostel. This place is called Heritage House and caters to young Jewish Women. There is also a male version up the street. The hostel is like a small gnome house. Very homey and friendly. Everyone sleeps in one huge room in the attic on bunk beds. It's really nice except that there is this crazy French Lady who stole Robby's bed and my blanket because she didn't understand that if there are sheets and backpacks on a bed it is clearly taken. Needless to say we had to move to a different bunk. The next day I came back and wanted to go to bed only to discover a ton of bags and clothes on my bed that weren't mine. The Crazy French Lady woke up to ask if I was sleeping there [my bed]. Hum, it had three of my bags on it. This lady is either really really daft or she is doing it on purpose thinking that if she does all this maybe I will move to another bed so that she can have two. Not a chance. If she does one more stupid thing I'm going to have words with her. Other than that there are really cool people here. One is Yanina who is going to probably be traveling with Robby and I to Jordan. ALexandra wants to go to Egypt with us and we've been hanging out with Brittany. Ok, we came on Friday night and meet Chuck and Nina, our second cousins from our dad's side for the first time. They were very nice and live in Jerusalem. They been living here for 27 years. We had lunch with them and then headed to the Heritage house to get settled in. The hostel has a shabbat program that allowed us and anyone who wanted to go down to the wailing wall and meet with a rabbi that organizes you into a group that goes to a family's house for dinner. Robby and I kept getting moved around a lot and eventually got settled in a group, but we had to wait for someone to take us to the families house because we didn't know our way around the city. It turned out that we knew the rabbi that lead us to the house. He was one of the guys that did the Shabbot experience (a program that tells you about shabbat) on Birthright. Anyhow, he lead us really far outside the Old City to this apartment where the people had no idea that we were coming to dinner. So, we stood there looking like idiots until the rabbi that we knew said we were coming to his house. So we went to his house and had one of the best home cooked meals ever. Very good. Since the Heritage House has a curfew of 1 am on Shabbot we raced back to the hostel and ended up being late, which freaked us out because we were told that if we didn't come at 1 am they wouldn't let us back in and we would be spending the night on the steps. But we begged and they let us back in. Yeah! The next day on Sabbat we went to another family for lunch. It was very nice as well and great, free food. So, Sunday we were on our own and I was sort of dragged along with Robby and Brittany to Neve, a religious school that they were both interested in going to. We went to three classes where I desperately tried to stay awake or tired not to argue with what the teachers were talking about. They both decided that Neve is not the place for them (Thank God). Today Robby, Brittany, and I went on a tour of the city with Chuck. Chuck is taking a tour guide class for fun, which was great for us because he knew a lot about the city and answered all our questions. We drove around sightseeing and then went to the Jewish Market for lunch. Afterwards Chuck dropped us off at the Botanical Gardens, which is seriously lacking some care because all the plants looked dead or dying. But it was a nice place to walk around. So we walked and walked and walked a little more. We were going to take the bus back to the Old City, but some lady on the street said it was only a 20 minute walk and so we walked. It was uphill and hotter and humid. Why didn't we take the bus? Now, I'm exhausted and going to take a nap. Talk to you guys later. Someone leave me a joke!