Culture and Cuisine

Dear Someone, 

You know how I love art. It is one of my favorite things! I was so excited to go to the Israel museum. With the promise of lots of history and possibly some impressionism we planned it in our schedule for our free Sunday. For some reason we decided to wake up that morning at 4:00 am to see the Jewish holiday called Shavuot. We woke up and all of us trekked over to the Western Wall. The Jews stay at the wall all night reading from the Torah to show their devotion to God. It was interesting to see so many people there. Young and old they had stayed up all night praying and reading. I don't know if I would wake up that early again to see people read and pray but it seemed to be all part of the experience! It did throw off my sleeping patterns though. We were so tired that we came back to the center at 6 and I slept again until breakfast at 8. Then our day began all over again! We started with the Israel Museum: 

They had a replica of what Jerusalem would have looked like during the time of Herod's temple before it was destroyed in 70CE. My sleepy, huge head is blocking the temple but those are the walls around it.

This is the LOVE statue in Hebrew! 

I sure do love these people! 

Juan, Stephanie, Pam and Camila. 

I didn't take many pictures of the ancient stuff. I had to do a school assignment with all of that but I was really excited to find someone I knew! Me and a Jackson Pollock. There were a couple Monet's, Van Gogh's and Renoirs too! 

Some art is harder to understand than others. This women I understood perfectly. 

Apple core? Baltimore 

Whose your friend? 

YOU! 

After a long day at the museum we were in desperate need of a hamburger! We went to a restaurant called Zuni's in West Jerusalem that our teacher recommended to us. I have never been happier to scarf down a burger. It had bacon and gorgonzola cheese on it. Yum. It is sad how food can make me so happy. 

Pam and Juan with their delicious burgers. 

Just another day in paradise I guess. I am shocked everyday of the amazing things I get to see here. There is history and culture around every corner. Our free days are precious and I think we packed in amazing things this day. I hope I get to go back to all of those things again before I leave. I am lucky that I still get to live here for 2 months. It is already flying by. Please let time slow down so that I can have many meals in West Jerusalem and have plenty of time to people watch. 

Love, 

Mary Jane