Yesterday was a very long day of classes. We had two hours of near eastern studies and another two hours of Palestine. After class we had lunch and then everyone kind of did their own thing for a while. On Fridays we are not allowed into East Jerusalem until after 3:00 and since you have to walk through East Jerusalem to get over into West Jerusalem, you either have to wait to walk through the old city, or take a taxi. Around 4:00 a few girls were going into the city to take some pictures and walk around. I went with them and made my first purchase!! I bought this really cute scarf for 25 shekels and a ring for 10 shekels. I tried to bargain with the scarf man, but a girl I was with bought it up front so he didn't budge on the price for me at all. The ring was originally 35 shekels but the guy kept going down in price so I couldn't resist!
We wandered around the Old City and somehow ended up in the Jewish Quarter. It is a whole different feel than the other quarters in the Old City. It is much more clean, open, and more natural light. And it doesn't smell funny which is a huge plus!
That evening we had the chance to go ring in the Sabbath with the Jews at the Western Wall. Because it was considered the sabbath for them, we weren't allowed to take any pictures or anything. My thoughts going into the Western Wall was that it was going to be a reverent and quiet thing, but it was the complete opposite. There was singing, dancing, praying, and just a lot of noise. I was able to go up to the wall, but I wasn't quite sure what to do/think, but it was really cool and symbolic for a lot of the Jews there. It amazed me to see their faith and devotion. I got to thinking that even though we don't share the same beliefs, we all have that sense of devotion + love for our religion. We just choose to express ours a little differently. It was quite the fun atmosphere!
-- The Jewish Quarter
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