I am having a blast and still haven’t gotten lost beyond repair.  The past two days I have spent in the Old City and then this morning in Bethlehem (West Bank).  I have decided that most Israelis don’t smile and are grumpy.  When I was in Bethlehem someone offered for me to sit down next to them on their awesome white plastic lawn chair (all the rage here) and gave me some bread to share some of his hummus, olive oil with green dippy stuff, and some cheese with olive oil.  He smiled and didn’t try to sell me anything. It seems like Jordan is pretty popular with Brits and a lot of people have been there.  I have heard that the people are a lot more friendly, will tell you about their ducks, and it is cheaper. I am excited to go there in a couple days.

One big difference between churches in Europe and here is that in Europe they are a lot more beautiful and grand.  They are less decked out here, but important things happened underneath them.  Today I was doing my typical walk, trying not to go where I wasn’t suppose to be while hunting for an entrance to this church.  I ended up going through an open door which lead to a “secret area” with houses above the ground level with a great view from above the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The area had no other tourists (I heard some people) and was really large. I think it had something to do with Greek Orthodox and is normally closed.  It was great to get away from the hustle and bustle and have peace and quiet.

I made friends with the local market.  I spent $2.60 on over a pound of olives and also got some apples, green shelled oranges (which are really good), dried kiwi and strawberries, and some nut and pistachio pastries.

I have been hanging out with some people that I have met.  Some I have deemed lame after hanging out for a couple hours, others I have deemed  not travel worthy (same linen outfit for 3 days, come on), others really cool.  I have plans to go to a castle and the Dead Sea with some Italians that fell into the really cool category tomorrow.

I still haven’t figured out how to upload pictures or why some Israelis in the army have low rise pants, but I am determined to learn both things.