Oh Israel

We left for the Israeli border from Jordan at 7:00am. This time it wasn’t just Miami students. There were four guys from West Point with us too. It took us about two hours to get to the border with one of hour of stops in between, so it’s pretty close. I got through the bag check and metal detector stuff just fine. There was this weird machine I had to stand in for a few seconds that blew puffs of air at me, head to toe, from tiny little jets. It was pretty funny because everyone’s hair was flying everywhere and our clothes were flailing around. I’m pretty sure this is to check for explosives that could be on our clothing or in our skin folds.
It came time for our passports to be checked. Me and a few others had to request that our passports not be stamped. With an Israeli stamp on your passport you can’t get into Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. I quickly realized that out of everyone in my group, even those who asked for their passport not to be stamped, I was the only one that got this extra form to fill out. It asked questions like, my dad’s name, my cell phone number, and exactly where and when I had been in the middle east on this trip. I went to go hand in my completed form to this other desk that I was directed to...where I became acquainted with a bitch. I was like hi here is my form and she responded by “Sit down.” I was pretty confused and told her I was directed over to the desk by another worker and she said “sit down over there and get up when your name is called!” So cursing under my breathe I went and sat in this area that pretty much looked like an airport gate. And everyone there happened to be Muslim… OH WOW! So as I watched all my friends quickly cruise through security within 15 minutes, I sat and waited for 4 hours. About two hours into waiting I was taken to be questioned by a worker there. She wasn’t as nearly as mean as she could have been, just a little manipulative. Asking me how if I went to Miami University it was located in Ohio and not Florida, why I was taking 4 instead of 3 years to finish college..., why I was learning Arabic if I wasn’t a international studies major or something of the like. So I answered stupid ish like that and when I finally got through all my buddies were applauding me as I got on the bus to join them haha.
That’s when the site seeing began.
We saw some of the most religious sites in the world! It was amazing. The first place we saw was where Jesus ascended into heaven. Then we went to a spot where Jesus and his 12 disciples used to chill, and the Lords prayer was written everywhere in like 2983348509 different languages, including Telegu and Kokani… pretty cool ay? These two places were located on Mount olives where a nearby house in a Palestinian neighborhood was sold to an Israeli family. This family then put a giant Israeli flag in their front yard to show their dominance of the area. We found out that the former Palestinian owner of the land was executed for essentially betraying his people…so that was pretty messed up.
After this, we visited a few churches from where you could see this amazing panorama of Jerusalem, it was gorgeous. One of the churches we visited was the Church of All Nations where I saw my first mass. It was extremely moving. The priests voice when he sang was very powerful, and we sat their throughout the entire ceremony. A lot of the people on this trip are Catholic, so they were able to tell me what was going on the second I ever had questions about anything, which turned out to be incredibly convenient.
Then we saw the tomb of the Virgin Mary at The Church of the Sepulchre of Mary. This Church was very dim lit, but colorful. There were all these ornament hanging from the ceiling and a wide flight of stairs that descended into the tomb. The layout of the church is in the shape of a cross which is pretty neat.
After that we grabbed some delicious shawarma and Mirinda (the best soft drink in the middle east, similar to fanta, but 10X better) and headed to our hotel. We got to our rooms and they were kind of janky, but it was essentially only for us to sleep in, so no one really cared.
We headed out to Ben-Yahouda street. This is the main hang out in Israel. It’s just a long street lined with shops and little restaurants. This is when it really hit me that we were in Israel. I felt like I was in a European country, there were girls running around wearing whatever the hell they wanted, there were people sitting at tables casually drinking beers, but at the same time you would see orthodox Jews (the one’s with the black hats and curls next to their ears) walking around. It was so bazaar. And for once in a long time, I stood out like a sore thumb, I was the darkest person around! A lot of people can speak great English there, but i surprised to see that there were plenty of others who could only speak Hebrew. I went to this one sweet shop and had pasteries and tea and it was sooo good.
That night was one of the girl’s on our trips birthdays. We went to a shisha place and then to a club. Things are pretty pricey in Israel when it comes to….well everything. The Club was pretty cool. There are mad British Jews in Israel, we met quiet a few at the club and it was fun to talk to them and meet new people. Valerie and Jesse were absolutely hilarious this night… I’ve got some videos that made all of us keel over the next day from laughing soo hard. We headed back to the hotel around 4am!