Jerusalem, Israel!

Today was a day I will never forget for the rest of my life. We flew into Tel Aviv, Israel at 2:00 in the morning. It is so humid here, the taxi driver had to use his windshield wipers so he could see. We slept in today then caught a taxi to Jerusalem. The driver was a crazy old man. We were going to take a bus but he talked us into him driving us the whole way. So we agreed. He whistled and mumbled to himself the whole way. At one point, he pulled off the free way, pulled into a parking lot, and peed in between two cars! We thought he was going into the gas station. He didn’t really know where our hotel was so he asked everyone in sight, reversed on a busy road, and stopped in the middle of the street. He wouldn’t listen to my dad on how to get there. He was a very nice guy! We got to the hotel and he said, “This is all Arab...you’ll be ok.” Just a little flashback, during the drive my dad gave me a little history lesson about the bombings, Arabs, and Israelis so I could understand what was happening in this country right now. He mentioned that Arabs hate Americans because we support the Israelis. Later we’d find out, he booked our hotel right in the middle of the Arab corner of Jerusalem. I said, “So let me get this straight, we’re staying amongst all the people who hate us?” Then his story changed. “Not EVERYONE hates us...” “How could anything bad happen by the Garden Tomb?” “Only a small group of extremists hate us...” I told him I was a big girl now and I didn’t buy it. I jokingly told him his old comfort techniques didn’t work anymore. He said, “You’re refusing comfort?” I said, “I refuse to be comforted by lies :)” It was a funny conversation! Haha. He finally admitted to this craziness when he said, “Ok...this isn’t ideal.” I was glad to hear him admit it! We got settled in and needed to eat because we hadn’t eaten all day. I tried to convince him we should just eat in the hotel because that is where I felt safe. Turns out there was no restaurant for lunch in the hotel. So we had to go out. I put on a pair of long pants so I could fit in better. A majority of the women here are covered from head to toe. They always walk behind the men too. We asked the lady at the front desk if I should wear long sleeves too. She said, “No, we are free. We accept every religion.” We thought that was an interesting answer. So we hit the street! I have never felt so uncomfortable and unsafe in my life. You wouldn’t believe the looks I got. People would just stare. Partially, because of my blonde hair and blue eyes. Sometimes, people would say things in Hebrew as we walk past them. My dad had me walk a lot closer to him. I was very nervous. I felt so much better when we finally made it to the restaurant. While we were sitting there, a proud dad walked in with his little 3 or 4 year old boy with a big toy gun about twice the size of him. My dad tried to get a picture of this because we thought it was kinda funny. While my dad was trying to get a picture, the little boy pointed the gun at him. I wish we would’ve gotten that picture! On the way back men would say, “Hello lady.” then give me thumbs up. A couple guys were making kissing faces towards me and my dad pointed at them like “Don’t you dare!” A little embarrassing! haha There was the weirdest feeling walking through those streets. We came back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit. We booked a tour of Jerusalem for tomorrow. Later at night, we went and walked through the Old City Jerusalem. I decided this time that I was going to have an open mind. I was going to look at these people without fear. I walked with my head held high and looked at them in the face. Most of them were very very kind. They would say hello or can I help you find something? I’m so grateful I went into that city with an open mind. We went and saw the Wailing Wall. It was very interesting! Men and women were separated and very passionately praying to this wall. All we could find for dinner was bread, a pomegranite, and coke! Yummy huh? We went into a store looking for an olive wood sculpture for my mom. I talked to the store owner for a bit. He said to me, “Are you mormons?” I was kinda caught off guard! I said, “Yes...how did you know?” His answer was that he deals with Mormons a lot from the BYU Jerusalem center. I thought that was interesting! Well, overall today I was completely shoved out of my comfort zone, but I learned so much from it and I will never forget it!