Yesterday was a tiring day, leaving me 2 full days to cover in one blog at midnight. I apologize now for any & all typos to follow.

General itinerary for Monday and Tuesday:
Monday-
Ride bus with East Jerusalem youth to Nazereth, Galilee, visit Capernaum, and Tiberias.
Tuesday-
Wailing (Western) Wall, Dome of the Rock, alternative tour of Silwan and the City of David archeological site, Shuafat Refugee camp, Qalandiya check point, dinner at Jerusalem Hotel, back to our hotel for Catchphrase.


All of the above have been informative and meaningful experiences - some spiritual, others about building relationships, & some for social justice learning and action. With so many topics, facts, and details to cover, it is hard to know where to begin.

First of all, Monday - the day we were joined by about ten Palestinian teens for our trip north. This was a challenging day for several reasons, not the least of which being the heat. We believe that it topped 105 F, which for a Michigander like myself is a bit out of the comfort zone. Other challenges included language barriers between ourselves and the Palestinian kids, the abundance of information thrown at us in short times, and my own personal battle was car sickness (resulting in me sitting in the front looking out the window or closing my eyes). Without a doubt, the most powerful moment for me that day was a spiritual one as I stood in the waters of the Sea of Galilee overlooking Jordan and endless haze in the distance. A slight breeze did nothing to help the heat, and the water of no assistance either. Nevertheless, I imagined Christ our Lord and Savior performing miracles in these waters, walking through the lands, doing his ministry.
In Tiberias we rented "speed" boats for a half hour, speed meaning that they actually move and can go a speed, even if only 5 mph. A stop at Mickey D's gave us some much needed soft serve and home we went.


Today - well, that is a different story. In Jerusalem we experienced the good, the bad, the ugly, the worst, the sad, the broken...
We made it into the area of the Western Wall today, and there is something to be said about the power of prayer en masse around you, focusing on one thing that brings about power and strength. Walking back out, around, and up, we rose to the Temple Mount as it is know to the Jews and the Dome of the Rock to the Muslims. Holding religious significance for both religions, it is a hotly (scorchingly) contested area for which I have little space to write about here.

We met up with an Israeli guide that gives alternative tours of Silwan and the City of David archeological site and Israeli National Park. Instead of telling us about the findings of archeologists there, we dug deeper into how the land was acquired, what has actually been found, and the reasoning for doing such a thing. We had the pleasure of having an IDF soldier with us, who questioned our observations and facts and presented life as she knew it. She stated that she felt uncomfortable anytime we were out in the Muslim neighborhood of Silwan; likening it (as we saw), to when you walk in a bad part of any US city, fearing for safety with the potential of danger. I wish I had more energy/time to talk about all the activity going on in Silwan, but I am already drifting so I will save that for a later post.
The Shuafat refugee camp is an experience like no other - 35,000 residents live in a 1 km square. They pay municipal taxes (as they are in the recognized borders of Jerusalem), but receive no city services - no education, no garbage clean up, limited electricity and water. Dr. Anati explained to us the hopeful things going on inside of the camp. Despite the tensions and extremely poor living conditions, the school has an 80% graduation rate, with 1 in 10 graduating college. However, because of the stressful conditions, many have resulted to violence and drug use and many families are broken and dealing with interpersonal problems.

Qalandiya is a checkpoint farther away from the refugee camp that we walked through last year, and did it again this year (going West Bank --> Jerusalem). What two completely different experiences. This year we walked right through with only a couple unnecessary stops in the lines (as opposed to 1.5 hours last year); however, I also felt more anxious. Now I couldn't hide (not that I did before) with the masses and sneak photos in. I blatently took photos and the man in the bulletproof room said through his microphone in English, "do not take photographs at the checkpoint. No cameras in the checkpoint." When we got to the window where we show our passports, they questioned Scott about who had the camera and where it was. After denying any knowledge of what the guard was talking about, we went through without further incident.

Tonight had to be one of the most relaxing nights we have had - the dinner at the Jerusalem hotel was fabulous and the atmosphere so relaxed, so communal. It is becoming clear that the relationships one forms with the people that you meet in Palestine make an impression - and people remember each other year after year and welcome with open arms. We all came back to the hotel in a happy, but tired mood so we played some Catchphrase to take advantage of our late morning tomorrow. Alicia had some pretty strange words come up in the game, so I/we felt the need to make a note of it. First of all, she was the first person to go and the first word was "Wailing Wall." Remember, there are thousands of words in this game... At other points her words were: Hiroshima, Japan, Nagasaki, Trojan Horse, Hour Glass, gas mask, tunnels... Which given our preoccupation with the occupation, theories on the Temple Mount, and general loopiness from being tired, well we made something of it. You heard it here first.

[Pictures will be posted tomorrow]