We woke up and ate breakfast and then got a “Tan-tour” from Karis (our program coordinator). There are many guest rooms, a chapel, meditation rooms, a workout room, a large library, and even a small student center whose rooftop has beautiful views of Bethlehem and Jordanian mountains. After our tour of Tantur, we walked to the bus stop, which is five minutes away at the checkpoint to go in and out of Bethlehem, and boarded a public Palestinian bus. It dropped us off by the Old City where we were met by Robert (academic director) and his son. We walked around West Jerusalem (Israeli) and the Main Street there. However, it was Shabbat (the sabbath for Jews - sundown Friday to sundown Saturday) so everything was pretty much closed. Then we made our way to East Jerusalem (Palestinian, but Israeli controlled) where it was a busy Saturday morning. In some ways it was very similar to West Jerusalem but very different at the same time. It felt dirtier and older in some areas but also less sterile (then again, it was Shabbat in W. Jerusalem). We ate at a falafel and shawarma sandwich store. Janne (my roommate) and I talked to an interesting Palestinian man who was very vocal and has apparently traveled the world quite a bit speaking about Palestine and Peace. He showed us his ID card (most Palestinians don’t have passport) which listed his birthplace as Israel and his nationality as Jordanian. He was born 6 years before the creation of the state of Israel and has no ties to Jordan. I had heard about ID cards and the “Jordanian nationality” trick but it was so surreal to see it in person. And on our first day! From there, we entered the old city via Damascus Gate with a tour guide. We walked through the Muslim quarter first where many shops lined the streets, some selling food and needed items while others sold purely tourist suveniors.
We then went to the Western Wall and got to go up and touch it. Because of Shabbat, we could not take photos (which is considered “work”). We then got a peek of the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock, and the al-Aqsa Mosque.
We then walked through the Jewish quarter where everything was also closed for Shabbat. However, there were many families out and about, especially a lot of Haredim or Ultra-Orthdodox. We watched a young group of boys get into a shouting match with an old Jewish man in a square in the middle of town and found it very amusing. We then walked into the Christian quarter. There were many shops there, mostly all tourist and one even devoted to The University of Alabama?!
We then went into the Church of the Holy Seplechure which was crazy busy. We walked up to where Calvary and where Jesus was supposedly crucified. We also went around to a few other areas of the church before walking to the part above the tomb in which Jesus was laid. The line was very long to go up to it so we instead just looked from a far and will be back to visit. The visit here was by far the most bizarre because it felt like a very special place of course but we were so rushed and crowded that we couldn’t fully absorb it. Also, it was a bit crazy because every square inch of the church is owned by either the Armenians, the Greeks, the Copts, the Fransicans, or the Syrians (churches, not governments). It felt like a place that is so Holy was so divided and the opposite of peaceful. We are looking forward to going back, however. After that, we just took the bus home, ate dinner, and then hung out in our apartment and discussed the day. The group of us (8 girls) just sat around and talked about what struck us today and it was a very nice end to the busy day. We are looking forward to sleep tonight and a free day tomorrow when we will go to church and enjoy the Old City in a less rushed manor.
