Jerusalem, if i forget you, let my right hand forget what it's supposed to do

yesterday i went to jerusalem on my טיול (trip) with the ulpan. there was a lot of traffic because there were riots there, but dont worry. the most we saw were a whole bunch of soldiers in riot gear. not on rock or rioting looking person. it was totally safe. but we were late. it took about an extra hour to get there.

our first stop was mt. herzel. that is where all the important people are burried- all the soldiers who die in battle, and most all the important politicians. we were only there for 1/2 hour cause we were soo late, and it kinda sucked cause we barely had time to see everything.

then we went to the 'Jerusalem Time Elevator'. it is a disney style 'ride' where the seats move and you watch a movie about the history of Jerusalem. it was kinda stupid, but the information was good.

we went to lunch at this look-out point. we could see all of Jerusalem. if you look way to the right, you can just see a grey line on top of the hill. that is the wall separating the west bank from east jerusalem. fun fact, that wall was built by the same people who build the border wall between mexico and the us. i learned that at the United States Social Forum, not here in israel.

after that we went to the old city and saw the cotel (western/wailing wall). i didnt realize it was segregated. that kinda pissed me off. there were a bunch of women praying there, and only a few men. but because of the segregation, the proportions of the wall allotted for men to women is about 2:1. ( can you see the partition?) so all the women were cramped in a little section and the men had way too much room. but i went up and stuck my prayer in the wall. it was cool. you are supposed to walk backwards from the wall- not to turn your back, so corrine, mayan, alexis and i tried for a while. i was the only one looking over my sholder and leading us all so we didnt run into people. after a good enough distance we gave up and walked away.

we met Chris at the wall too. Chris used to be on the ulpan, but decided he wanted to study judaism more than hebrew, so he moved to a yeshiva in jerusalem. he is also the older brother of james, a boy still on the ulpan. Chrish is the one who gave me the phone i have been using here. we were all happy to see him, and he came with us to ben yehuda st.
(This is Chris giving us his 'shimshum shady' on the bus. he rapped slim shady on the Tel Aviv tiul, but as he is more jewish now and shimshum (sampson in hebrew) is his hebrew name, he did the shimshum shady rap. will the real shim shady please stand up. please stand up)
we were dropped of near ben yehuda st and given an hour to roam. it was a lot of fun, no a lot of time. i ended up buying hannah's Hanukkah present, and 3 pairs of earrings (3 for 25 shekles! thats like 3 for 6.75!) and they're really pretty. then i got some food and we made it back to the bus just in time.

the ride home was long and we were tired, but we made it back finally and i fell into bed.

today, i had to get up really early- 630! but it was so i could work at my NEW JOB in the gan yeladine! that means with the kids. i didnt know i eat breakfast with them too, so i got up early to eat. then corrine took me to the office, and then to Orin, the older kids. they were about 3/4 years old. very cute. when i got there, they were having their music lesson, so this (very pregnant) woman Ila and i (i got confused all day weather they were speaking to me or her cause our names are soo similar) cleaned the bedrooms (they have cute little bunkbeds for naptime! its sooo cute) after that, we sat on VERY short tiny chairs at VERY short tables and had breakfast. the adults sit with the kids and we all eat together. then we went outside to play. it was pretty intense cause the women dont speak much english, and the kids dont speak english at all, and speak really fast with baby voices like lisps and stuff. its hard enough understanding when babies talk in english. and when they cry its impossible. but there werent many crying or troublesome kids. they were mostly good. then they all went in to pee, and then to play inside. Ila and i cleaned the bathrooms. then i went to play with the kids, and dazzled a group of girls, especially this one names Leah, with my oragami skills (i can make a dog face, and a fortune cookie thing that was really popular in first and second grade back home) they loved it. then we all ate lunch, and i left.