Tonement

So Wednesday was Yom Kipper as many of you know. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur) Since it is a pretty important day in Judaism my program took us to Jerusalem, a pretty important city not only to Jews, but to Muslims and Christians as well (more on that later). So, despite not being religious I was pretty stoked to be going there, and it turned out to be pretty amazing. It is illegal to drive on Yom Kippur in Jerusalem, and since it is a holiday most people observe anyways the city was very quiet. Everyone walks in the middle of the street and there are gangs of kids riding there bikes all over town. We went to the Western Wall several times to see the really religious people praying down there (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Wall). Overall it was very relaxing and an interesting experience. Needless to say the highlight of my day had nothing to do with Yom Kipper. My friends and I walked by about 10 kids playing in a fountain in their underwear about 100 yards from the Old City and its 3,000 year old self. It was hot and they looked like they were having fun. Here are snippets from our short deliberation that followed after the three of us decided that yes, this is what we wanted to do as well:

it's not pedophilia. Right? I mean it's hot out. I'm not saying I like little boys, I just want to swim. It's totally fine dude. But I'm wearing boxer briefs, it is a little weird. What if people walk by. Just take your shirt off and I will too. I can't believe I'm doing this.

Needless to say that yes, my and three of my friends stripped down into our underwear and hung out in a fountain in the middle of the day, only after my friend got one of the kids to say welcome to us. It was really fun and refreshing and the kids turned out to be very nice. They were Arab, but knew enough english to talk to us. Good cultural experience overall.

Onward. I am excited because this coming Sunday my program is taking is back to Jerusalem to do a seminar on the three major religions that consider Jerusalem to be holy. Aside from much of the Jewish stuff they are taking us to David's Tomb, where Jesus supposedly ate his Last Supper, the Temple Mount, where Mohammed supposedly ascended to heaven (where the Gold Dome of Jerusalem is, and where many Jews are not exactly welcome) and last down Via De La Rossa, the path where Jesus supposedly carried the cross and where he was crucified. I say supposedly because no one really knows exactly where and if all this stuff happened. It should be another interesting day.

Stay safe everyboyd.