Ascension: Final evening

Ugh. Sometimes I really wonder about my sanity, or my ability to pay attention to the smallest details. How am I possibly a PhD student? I have planned all week to make sure I get to the airport by 9 in the evening for my midnight flight. And everything worked out (in the end). Here I am, it's 9:29 pm, and I can't even check my luggage because my midnight flight actually leaves at 4:50 am! How did this happen! I'm stuck here in this dumb little cafe for the next 3 hours! Ugh.

So, with that time, I'll be updating the old blog. Probably for the last time, or penultimate time, perhaps.

Today has been a surprisingly rewarding and full day! It started last night when I consciously made the decision to attempt a friendly gesture to my roommate for the night. She was friendly in return, and we ended up going up to the bar for a drink. Yes, I, Amber Taylor, have joined regular young adult culture in enjoying an evening drink with a friend. But, no, I did not require alcohol to make the conversation flow easier. I enjoyed a nice orange juice. This, of course, brought up the question of my religion, and we talked about it, but it didn't dominate the conversation. Much.

I invited her to join me this morning for the City of David tour I had planned, and she did. She really is a very nice girl. Her name is Suzanna, from Germany, but speaks with a delightful and perfect English accent. Her mother is English and she went to American schools in Munich. At 9 in the morning we walked down to the City of David tour site, and it quickly became apparent that my choice of sandals was a poor one. I have been so impressed with these Palestinian sandals I bought (they have been very comfortable in my short distance walks over the last few days), that I just decided to wear them all over the city today. I suspect I'll be paying for that breach of reason for the next few days!

The tour was good - and about what I expected in terms of archaeology mixed with indoctrination. Both Suzanna and I noticed and discussed it in length later. After the tour, we opted to walk up the recently excavated drainage tunnel back to the tour center. Except somehow we managed to continue on in the tunnel, past the turn off to the center, and up all the way to the Temple Mount! As we began to encounter Herodian stone, notable for its 2-inch lip around the edges, I pointed it out. And then, when we came out, we found ourselves surrounded by temple ruins. But we didn't realize our mistake for another several minutes - and what a fortunate mistake it was! We would have had to pay extra to get to those ruins and walk through that part of the tunnel otherwise. It was an honest mistake, and the guy in the tunnel who was supposed to point us to City of David tour site didn't steer us in the right direction either! So we had fun looking around at the ruins and taking some pictures.

We then decided to go grab some lunch. I knew I would regret that decision as soon as I made it to Neveen's birthday party at 4 (it was already almost 2). Neveen is Abed's daughter with whom we formed a friendship, and she had invited me to her party for my last evening. Well, I was good an hungry by then, and could not help but eat all my big plate of noodles. And yep, I did regret it! Ah well. Suzanna and I had a nice conversation, exchanged info, and I headed on my way. We both agreed we were glad to have broken our general rule of shyness and became friends.

I continued to rue my choice of shoes as I walked back down to Abed's house in Silwan (yes, only about 100 feet away from the City of David tour we had been at earlier). When I arrived, about 8 women were seated around a coffee table eating from an enormous platter of food - grape leaf wraps, stuffed zucchini and lamb (I believe). They handed me a fork and told me to eat! I tried - truly I did. But I was so full. All I could get down were two grape leaves and one bite of meat. It was so fun, though, to be there in the midst of them. They are a hoot! Jabbering and joking, shoving food at me, laughing and trying to communicate with me with one or two English words, and altogether a very friendly lot.

Afterward, the dancing began. I sat back, content to watch - these girls and even the older women could move! But soon I was pulled up into the group, and I desperately tried to remember my belly-dancing lessons. To no avail - I could not move my hips, arms or chest like these girls! But we had a wonderful time. Later they had a whole big assortment of cakes and goodies, and we sang Happy Birthday to Neveen. And I do mean Happy Birthday - first in a sort of English, then Arabic (both to a semblance of the familiar tune), and finally some chant I couldn't begin to understand. And she blew her 3 candles out.

Then, more dancing. I recorded some for your viewing pleasure - and so you can see just how pathetic my attempts were. But they loved watching me try! I was super self-conscious of my stench. I had been walking and hiking up and down those hills all day, and my backpack, with its straps full of my dry armpit sweat, was no help. Every once in a while I would catch a whiff of myself, and it was pretty rank. I could only hope that bad body odor is more acceptable in such a hot country.

Abed, Neveen's father, was going to take me back to Abraham hostel so I could catch my sharut (shared taxi) here to Ben Gurion airport for my flight. This meant I would walk with a few of the girls through the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane (traditional site, with a church) to meet Abed. The girls walked hopelessly slow, and I was getting nervous about arriving in time. As we reached about the halfway point, I realized I had left my wallet, complete with my passport, in their house. REALLY!? I ran back, sore feet and all, grabbed the wallet, and ran back - tired and sweaty. Abed picked us up, and I prayed all the way to the hostel that the sharut wouldn't leave me. Right as I arrived, the sharut did - and I got on it. All is well. Except that I'm stuck here for the next 5 hours! Major sigh.

Anyway, I said about all I have to say about leaving last night. But it was sure a wonderful way to end my time in Jerusalem, to walk through the Kidron Valley at dusk, past Zedekiah's Tomb and Absalom's Tomb, gazing up at the Mount of Olives with the ancient Jewish cemetery and churches. It was lovely, despite my stress about time.

And so it ends. I'm so grateful for a truly meaningful trip filled with good people, new friends, and affirmations.

Below are a few fun pics from today. Enjoy. See y'all soon!

Well, looks like this airport internet is not jiving with my phone, so I'll have to upload those pics later and post 'em. Heck, it gives you something to look forward to.

OK, now I am adding the pics (only 2 weeks later!).

The view from the City of David, looking south over Silwan and over to Mt. Zion. Notice how steep the hill is leading down from the City of David. Part of that is natural (the reason the site was chosen anciently) and part of it built by David himself to better fortify the city.

Inside one of the tunnels of the City of David, leading to access to the water source at the Gihon Spring.

Another (dry) tunnel. I opted out of Hezekiah's Tunnel this time (since I had already had my own, private tour. Archaeologists aren't sure what these smaller tunnels were used for, but they suspect they might have been some sore of irrigation system, allowing water to flow out of the Spring to the fields outside the city. It is thought perhaps David and his men entered the city through these tunnels to drive out the Jebusites.

Arriving at the Temple Mount after hiking up through the approximately mile-long drainage tunnel. That hike, by the way, is not for the claustrophobic!

Robinson's Arch - or what is left of it. This arch held up a massive staircase leading to Temple Mount. You can see that about where the arch ends, so does the larger Herodian stone. The stones above that are more recent, from the Muslim and Crusader era. What you see is actually the ENORMOUS retaining wall that Herod built to provide the large, flat surface for Temple Mount that exists still today. As large as this wall seems, it still goes down (under the rubble you see) for about 50 feet, and to the left (where the Western "Wailing" Wall is found, and beyond) about 300 more yards.

This site has a little bit of history on Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, including a picture of Robinson's Arch to give you an idea of how large the structure actually was. http://www.epilgrim.org/patriarch.htm

A view of the rubble of the destroyed Temple.

An idea of how large these stones are, and a good view of the lip or edging around them that make them so distinctive. (Yes, I'm making a point of touching ancient stone.)