October 30, 2004

Today we officially visited the Old City with our Acting Course Directer Iyad Qumri. Iyad is a Palestinian Christian who teaches parts of the classes here at St. George's College. He took us into the City through the Dung Gate (It's better than it sounds!). It is the entrance to the Jewish Quarter of the city and is the most direct route to the Wailing wall. I prayed for the there on the Jewish Sabbath. I have to promise you a picture of it, but pictures are not allowed there on Saturday. Writiing is not allowed their either, because that is work. From there, together we walked through crowded streets through the Arab Quarter. You can see a street sign from the Arab Quarter, the Via Dolorosa. At the end of next week, we will walk the Via Dolorsa as a class. Take a look at the other "street" picture. This is how many of the streets looked today. We were shoulder to shoulder, walking very slow through some of the sections. This is a good sign. With all the trouble the last few years, the number of tourists is way down. When there is little tourism, many of the people can't make a living. There are many children in the city who carry beads and postcards that come up to you and ask you to buy. The other picture is of one of my favorite shops. Perhaps you can tell why. I bought a bunch of sweets to bring back to the College to eat for desert. It would be impolite to eat them on the spot, because it is still Ramadan, and the Muslims do not break their fast until 5p.m.

Tomorrow is a free day. Church will be at 11 in the Cathedral (The College is on the Cathedral grounds). The Arabic Eucharist is at 9:30. Wouldn't that be a way to separte early and later services in a church. After that, I hope to walk from the College to the top of the Mount of Olives and then back down to the Garden of Gethesemane. I'll do it if I can find someone to walk with. It's a lot safer to do activities in pairs here.

Each day I am here, I see the old and am affected by the present. Pray for peace here. Pray for good leadership for the Palestinians. Pray for Justice.

Peace to you,

Ralph

October 31, 2004

Today was a free day of study and rest. I slept in a little bit. After doing some laundry and hanging it on the roof, I got ready and attended church in the Cathedral. One of the brothers who are our chaplains is a priest and he was the celebrant at the service. I had planned to take a walk instead of eating lunch, but the cook showed us the salads we were going to eat. Yum! So, after lunch, a fellow student (Bill) and I went for a walk. It was my goal to climb up the to the top of the Mt. of Olives, and then back down to the garden of Gethesemane. So, we walked to the Old City (Jerusalem) and then out the Lions gate, down into the Kidron Valley. From there, we went up the Mount of Olives, quickly missing the turn we should have made. We took the long way up the Mt. If we had taken the more direct route, it would have been about 2,500 steps from the city to the top of the Mt. of Olives.

Since we took the long way up, we got to look the "other" way. Instead of looking East, we gazed South and West, to Bethany. It would have probably been another 2,000 steps to get to Bethany. You can imagine how close all of this is. Viewing Bethany from the top of the MT. is powerful. I did not bring my camera for this trip because I did not know how far I would be walking. The next time I will and you will see the picture. There is a wonderful view of the city from the garden of Gethsemane and I will show you that as well. On the way back, we bought falafel and more sweets for supper. I am eating well. the pictures for today are around the college and Cathedral. The churchy pictures are of the inside and outside of the Cathedral were I went to church today. Take a look at the car in the parking lot.

For the next few days I will be in Galilee, so I will be away from computer and internet. I'll try to prepare some pictures you haven't seen of my past week and have them uploaded while I am away. I'll be back in Jerusalem on Thursday and will be sending you descriptions of Galilee.

Keep praying,

Ralph+