06 May 2011

Six hours, three classes. Brain exploded. Or maybe it imploded? I couldn’t tell you at this point.

What a day it has been! Classes came in two hour blocks, taking up the entire day until 3:00p in the afternoon. It’s amazing how restless you can be after sitting for two hours at a time…which is when Finding Nemo fruit snacks come in handy! The Islam class is going to take some time to grow accustomed to. The professor, while he has lived outside the U.S. for many years, is originally a Palestinian, and his accent is difficult to apprehend. He tends to use Arabic names for people and places rather than the English words we use and know. I am sure with time it will become easier to understand the goings-on in the class. It is just frustrating, especially when a grade accompanies what we supposedly hear, study, and learn.

The day passed slowly by with classes ending so late in the afternoon. The two or three hours before dinner were spent completing reading assignments for Ancient Near Eastern Studies and conversing with friends in the Fourth Floor Lounge. You know you are all jealous of this day’s excitement. Dinner came and went with corn, chicken, rice, and, what do you know, jello. Or we all thought it was jello! It was orange gelatin; that’s for sure. However, it had an almost caramelized texture to it.

The party finally found its sound at 6:30p when we left the J.C. for a night on the town. We walked down to the Western Wall (possibly better-known as the “Wailing Wall” to most) to bring in Shabbat with the Jewish population and one-hundred of our closest friends… Imagine. No, I don’t know what to tell you to imagine. There is singing and dancing in the outer courtyards as well as within the male prayer area. I had the opportunity to touch the wall; I should have listening to Dr. Chadwick and brought some hand-sanitizer. You could visibly see on the stones where hundreds of thousands of people have touched and kissed the wall. The Western Wall is one of the most sacred sites in all of Judaism. It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple courtyard, dating back to the Second Temple period.

After touching the wall, we wandered back into the courtyard to mingle with the crowd. And dance. We ended up talking to a bunch of the Israeli soldiers and learning many Jewish songs and dances. One of them, many of you may be familiar with: Ride That Pony. Of course, the lyrics were in Hebrew but most of us caught on and joined in on the fun. It was a fun experience, something I wish we could do more often. But because it occurs within the Old City at sundown, we will not be able to go again unless we can convince the administration at the Center to make another field trip out of it.

Rather than volleyball, Jess Ellis and I started an epic game of 4-on-4. It was a blast. I hadn’t played basketball in close to a year, but I picked it up again fairly quickly, sinking three’s and baskets around the court. My ankle is throbbing now without my brace, but that is what my handy-dandy Ace bandage is for! It will be used tomorrow if it’s still aching in the morning. Let’s hope it goes down sooner rather than later.