Dear Santa:

      All I want for Christmas is this wicked awesome owl dress (from www.etsy.com), a new ankle for mommy (hers broke), and for school to be over.... Kinda overwhelmed with essays at the moment, having a bad day; owls make me happy. I have a friend who collects owl things so everywhere I go I always get her owl paraphernalia- salt and pepper shakers; macrame wall hanging; wooden carving.... ummm thinking of more things to write to procrastinate but I had better get back to reading "Institutional Design and Democratic Consolidation in the Third World" sounds exciting doesn't it? 

-Deeeeelillllaaahhhhh

Free Tour of the Holy City

A view of the Western wall after passing all the security... A couple of orthodox Jews cruising by after a morning of prayer. If you look closely the right hand side is reserved for women. Many people leave special letters in nooks and crannies of the wall. Our guide described this as a kind of 'direct post office to God.' Also modern technology allows you to email, text message or twitter your requats to God....what is this world coming to! Do not get me to rampage about cellphones- the ban of my existence!


Anyways, Monday was free tour day! There is a company which runs free tours in Jerusalem and across many major European cities as well. It runs on a tipping basis, leave what you can afford if you enjoyed the tour.

Many of the major sites we saw included:

• The old city wall and a view of the 'new' city
• The Armenian quarter, the Christian quarter, the Arab quarter and the Jewish quarter
• The Western wall, or wailing wall which is a very important Jewish holy site
• The Dome of the Rock where Mouhammed (the Muslim prophet) ascended into heaven to barter with God
• Al-aqsa mosque
• The 13 posts, spots marked where Jebus carried the crucifix and places where he fell or his hand touched the wall
• The Church of the Holy Seplchur where Jebus is supposed to be buried and resurrected
• Mount of Olives and Mount Scopus
• Temple mount
• Tower of David
• and Much more!!!!!
  
  The Brazillian woman on the tour. When everyone in the group introduced where they were from, her son and her were quite obvious as you can see by the brazillian flag vest she is sporting. She was hilarious!She was always wandering arounf muching on falafal and blowing on that horn thing (as seen in the photo). At one point the tour guide, Kobbie, was talking and she had made friends with some young Israeli soldiers. Before we knew it she was blowing that freaking horn again! The whole time her son (in his matching Brazillian flag t-shirt) was either looking for her or snapping photos of her wailing on the horn with the city in the backdrop.
  This is a plack dedicated to George Double-yeh Bush for being such a great friend to the Israelis! It is dedicated to him for being such a 'loyal partner to the state of Israel.' One interesting thing to note in a book Jack and I are reading called, 'Power Faith and Fantasy: American Involvement in the Middle East from 1776-Present' George Bush had a great uncle, also named George Bush, who was a pro-zionist and supported the resettlement of Palestine....who woulda thought?
  

-D

Hitchiking to Jerusalem....

We set out for the holy city with our packs and two thumbs. We set out from the tip of the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Kinneret as it is known to the Israelis. After a restless night following the elderly party animals arrival, we went for a morning swim while I continued to stew. They even had the guts to invite us to coffee! Not impressed. If anyone is familiar with 'Bailey' my evil alter-ego please note Bailey was out in full force!

Anyways, made it into town after a trek up to the road and caught a ride with two young guys. Man it was hot! It was only about 8 am but we were pouring sweat. I think it was about 42 degrees celsius and humid. We walked to the edge of town to catchanother ride but we had some competition in town, as there were a few young Israelis also vying for a ride at the designated hitching spot.

"Pulled into Nazareth, I was feelin' about half past dead;I just need some place where I can lay my head."Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"He just grinned and shook my hand, and "No!", was all he said." -The Band lyrics, The Weight [had to throw this in there, I love this song! If you have never heard it please youtube now!]

We managed to arrive in Beit Shean and waited at the junction with Nazareth. A few rides later, as the sun climbed higher and higher in the sky we found ourselves effectively stranded in the occupied territory of West Bank in front of an army base on highway 90 to Jerusalem. The one girl we were with caught a ride immediatly and we waited and munched on cookies. After a bit, a bus did arrive which was seemingly our only option as there were not very many vehicles on the road. A girl who arrived shortly after us lent us the three shekels needed to fund our ticket and we were off! Arrived in Jerusalem after a long and arduous day, completely exhausted.

Now about that Holy city...Jerusalem is one of the oldest, continuously occupied cities in the world. It is a crucial holy place for people from all three religious denominations: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the course of it's history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. So some people think it's worth killing and be killed for. Some people think it's beautiful, some say it's ugly, some say it's boring, some say it's fascinating. Some say it's holy. You can find here a mixture of people living in a harmony of love and hate to each other. Some of them say this city changed their life. Some went a little wacky.... [I will update you on mine and Jacks impressions!]

Jerusalem Syndrome is a mental illness thats onset is triggered by a visit to Jerusalem. It centres around religious delusions and psychosis, including a belief that they are the manifestation of the messiah, they represent the second coming of Christ or that God has communicated with them. If you do not believe me see Here!

Also, there is an interesting interview about the illness Here! from which the below quote has been borrowed from;

"The malady called Jerusalem Syndrome is no joke. Afflicted tourists have been found wandering in the Judean desert wrapped in hotel bed sheets or crouched at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, waiting to birth the infant Jesus."

Absolutely bizarre! Hahahahaha!

-Signing out, DDDDD

The Sea of Galilee

Another sunset....another sea....

Our shoddy campsite after we moved....

Hitched to a public beach after our arrival in Israel. When we arrived at the Sea of Galilee, we started to set up camp under a tree that afforded a bit of shade. After awhile Jack was making a fire pit when he turned over a rock and noticed a turd. He began looking around and noticing more, and more and more, "Theres poo everywhere!....Delilah, we are camping under the shit tree!" This beach was seemingly 'THE' spot to kite surf (which is crazy!) and the kitesurfers used this evry spot to do their business, and everyother spot with a tree. So when the sun retreated we moved to the edge of the water.

The Sea of Galilee is famous for its appearance in the Bible. Here Jesus delivered his 'sermon on the mount,' walked on water, calmed a storm and fed a ridiculous amount of people with some bread. Now the Sea is the place to party on weekends when it is bombarded with rowdy Israelis. We were rudely awoken to 'beats', aka shitty club music, not five metres from our forlorn little camp. There was another group partying far down the beach, but there was tonnes of space and two trucks decided to pull up right next to us at about one in the morning as we lay sleeping peacefully. Music blaring, headlights on about eight geriatrics poured out of the trucks. I was infuriated and prepared to crack skulls. Although Jack asked politely for them to turn down the music they never complied as they loaded their crap onto the pebbled beach. I slept fitfully, haunted by intrusive dreams that included a background soundtrack of 'Boom Boom Bamb Boom" that eerily made me feel as if I was asleep on the floor of a crowded night club.

The next morning, I grinded my teeth and managed to wave an offensive finger to a few of them. They were old! They should know better! I can't even think of it anymore because it make my blood boil....Grrrrrrr....

-D

P.S. about the sea: it is perfectly calm in the morning and warmer than bathwater! In the afternoon to wind picks up and there are wave....then it dies down again as the sun sets.