There are 15 of us interns, and I was the only one who had never been to Jerusalem before. There was a lot of, "Teresa, do you see this?" or, "What do you think?" I was sort of dreading it actually, out of fear that it was going to be patronizing or condescending, which it has been somewhat in the past, but it wasn't at all like that today. Anyway, the city is amazing. Tel Aviv is such a metropolitan, flat, and dirty city...Jerusalem was spread out, in a completely hilly area, and not incredibly clean, but it did seem cleaner than Tel Aviv. So we were going on a walking tour of the old city, and we did do quite a bit of walking. First of all though, pretty much the entire city is made out of limestone. Mary (my wonderful friend who is letting Daive stay with her, if you forgot) told me that even new buildings in the city have to be built out of limestone, to maintain the consistency and continuity of the appearance of the city. So we started out walking the walls of the old city, and I'm thinking that the walls were more Roman-age old rather than Old Testament old. Sadly though, I cannot really remember what the guide said. Nonetheless, we walked the tops of the walls, which were also limestone, but worn down, uneven, and slippery. It's amazing I made it back without hurting myself. We came out by the Zion gate (I'm pretty sure that's what it's called) and the walls around the gate were completely pot-marked by bullet holes from the various skirmishes and wars Israel has been through over time (and there's lots of them). Today was really interesting for a whole variety of reasons, but especially because I'm much more familiar with biblical history, but remarkably less familiar with everything that happened between AD 70 and now, pretty much. And that's a pretty big chunk of time. I did get quite an education today though.
I also got to see the wide wall built under Hezekiah's reign (in 2 Chronicles 32:5, I believe) and it was fascinating to see how the need for people to be able to live in the city was balanced with the desire to carry out archaeological digs which were so enlightening and useful. Only part of this huge wall had been excavated, but then there were red bricks laid in the streets of the actual city (the part where people live now) to show the width and length of the wall underneath the city. The wailing wall (Western wall) was much smaller than I thought it would be. Also, I don't know if I ever realized that the western/wailing wall isn't a wall from one of the temples. It's actually part of a retaining wall built to support the second temple (built by Herod). But it's the closest to the temple that exists. We got to go down into this archeological garden type area down beside and much lower down from the wailing wall, and it was amazing. There were walls and stones so huge I cannot even begin to explain. The area we were walking on were stones put in place ages ago, and there were some huge broken pieces, and the fractures occurred when the stones from the top of the wall that was still standing (still the outside retaining wall) were toppled over. You could see the arches and the areas where the stairs would have come out to lead the pilgrims into the temple area. It was just amazing...to be able to connect a physical place, a sight I beheld with my own eyes with what I've studied over the past few years...it was quite simply beyond words.
I have so much more I'd like to say about the experience, but some of it is negative (not about the city, about some of the actions of some of the other interns) and I think I should probably hold my tongue for now (for once...which is miraculous in and of itself).
Ah yes though...I came back to spend the night at Mary's house tonight because I didn't get to see Daive at all yesterday and she doesn't eat when I'm not around. We walked in and....oh my gracious. Total disaster area. Before I go on, let me introduce you to Mary's dogs. First there is Pablo, the Wonder Dog. He's a mixed breed, but is absolutely adorable and is the best natured dog you'll probably ever meet. He's medium-sized, probably about 45 or 50 pounds, but it is ALL muscle. (He's about the size of Lottie, Haley.) He and Daive play very well together. He's just over a year so he's got enough puppy in him to wear Daive out quick. Then there's WeBe, an eight-ish week old puppy they've had for about two or three weeks now. She is horribly sick, she has distemper, a severe upper respiratory infection, and just got over tapeworms. Very sick...but in very good spirits. So anyway, when we walked in, there was trash EVERYWHERE. That is bad for many reasons...first of all WeBe is on prescription food right now since she's so sick and it's very not good for her to eat anything aside from her prescription food. Second, they also got into the bag of medicine I had brought for Daive. Talk about FREAKING OUT....I cannot even tell you. There was quite a bit of medicine in there too. This is all the stuff that was open and spread about on the floor: Antibiotics, Prednisone (steroid), Children's Aspirin, and something else. Well...it turned out that they (thankfully) only liked the flavor of the Rimadyl, which is a canine pain and anti-inflammatory medicine, but that bottle was completely empty. So I had to make a super fast rush trip to the Super Pharm (a 24 hour pharmacy sort of close to Mary's apartment) and of course got the ONE taxi driver in all of Israel who doesn't drive quickly and like a complete maniac. He was even whistling a relaxed little tune. I thought I was going to pull my hair out...or maybe his. So when I got to the drug store, I'm rushing about trying to find some hydrogen peroxide (to induce vomiting) and cannot find it anywhere. I stopped and asked one of the ladies working if she spoke English..for reasons I've yet to figure out she laughed at me. I finally got one of the pharmacist assistants to help me, and she gave me a bottle which was, OF COURSE, labeled in hebrew and had no English explanation on it, and it did NOT smell like Hydrogen Peroxide. I've had enough experience to know what it smelled like, and this was NOT it. Well...add in a few frantic trips back and forth across the store until I figured out that it WAS, in fact, peroxide, paid, and attempted a quick trip home (but I had the taxi driver wait so I wouldn't have to wait to find another one, and he took his sweet relaxed time getting me back). I gave some to all of them, they all puked, and so far, everything is okay. I will confess though, that every few minutes I yell and wake them all up to make sure they're all still alive.
I'm going to go make an attempt at some old-fashioned relaxation, which is actually kind of sad to me, because I have TONS more I'd like to say. Here's a teaser, so you'll keep coming back to read. Next time I'll tell you about:
- My roommate in the dorm thought I was a missionary sent to try and convert her, and she was going to move out
- The miraculous and luxurious accomodations that exist for me at 36 Rodetsky in the dorms
- Update on Daive, Pablo, and WeBe (I pray they're all still okay then!)
Love you all so much! Thanks for the comments and emails, I have been greatly encouraged!
1 comment:
Teresa-
When I was in Kenya, I remember reading something about the stages you go through when you move to a foreign country. The first is the "Holy crap! What have I done?" stage, which is obviously where you are now. It is followed by the euphoria stage, "Wow! I am in such a cool place and doing such cool things and I'm meeting such cool people and life is just wonderful!" stage. That is a good stage. After that, being where you are becomes pretty much normal, and like anything else, there are good things and bad things, just like in "real life." At least you have the internet! Other than brief weekly calls to my parents, I just had snail-mail, which took 10 days or more each way (and sometimes never made it at all). Anyway, I hope things get settled for you soon, and your student loans come in and you find a nice place to live. I'm thinking about you, and living vicariously through your adventures, since my life has become more white-bread than I ever dreamed it would be back when I was living on the equator. It's pretty satisfying white-bread, but it's white-bread none-the-less.
Love you!
-Mary
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