Day one in Jerusalem

The view from my room

What a day! I hardly slept last night because of jetlag, but my 3 hours of sleep somehow have carried me through this amazing day. We had more orientation and then went on a walking tour of the city. How in the world can I describe Jerusalem to you?! I live on the Palinstinian side of the city, which is not exactly the most well kept part of Jerusalem, but amazing none the less. As we walked along, we were told which sides of the street we are allowed to walk on, and which ones are forbidden. We walked into the old city through Demascus gate and wound our way through all the vendors and shops. Everyone knows the BYU students here. I am not sure if it is because they like our business, or because we love them so much. They sure know what the "the young Mormons" like to here. "You come to my shop! I have carvings of Nephi, Lehi, and the Liahona. My liahonas works!" "Here BYU. Take my card. I do business with you becasue I like you eyes." They know how to business alright. We have been told over and over again how modest we must be in order to not get ourselves into trouble. I even felt a bit immodest walking around in my elbow length sleeves, one size too big, t-shirt.
I can't quite believe I am really experiencing this. We went into the Church of the Holy Seplicure (where most other christian faiths believe Christ's tomb is) and was so amazed at how sacred this city is. Even if all of the sites I see are not sacred to my religion, they are still sacred. I also can't help but notice how beautiful people are all over the wolrd. These two feet have been a few places, and the one thing I notice everywhere I go is how beautiful and unique people are in each country. Middle Eastern men are not used to women looking them in the eye, and we have been told to try and avoid eye contact so we don't send the wrong message. I am not going to lie, it is harder than you would think to not look at people and smile back when you know they are watching you. Don't think I am trying to seduce and men over here, but seriously, who doesn't like to be stared at every once in a while. Ha ha! One of my favorite parts of the tour today was watching our school security. Yes, we have our own security squad. They kept appearing out of nowhere and directing us in the right direction. These guys are good!
Once we walked through the Palistinian section, we then left the old city through Japa gate and went to the western, or Israeli section. Let me tell you, it was like enterning a completely different country. It was a lot more clean and modern than what we had just spent several hours walking through.
Once we got back the the Jerusalem center, it was lunch, more orientation, and then a short break before dinner. I walked out on to the balconyoutside of my room and took a picture of the view. AMAZING! I overlook the old city as well as the Dome of the Rock and a thousand other historical buildings. Tomorrow was suppposed to be our first day with free time to go explore the city on our own, but we have been informed will will be having out first lockdown. This week is the first week of Rhamadan, the month of fasting for the Muslims. Friday night apparently is party night becasue thousands of Muslims will be coming into town to worship and then break their fast at sundown. The streets are supposed to be packed with people praying, and then partying. We aren't allowed out of the center because their leader will be talking before the celebration, and his speeches can become politically charged, so it probably wouldn't be a good idea to have a bunch of American kids wandering the streets overflowing with Muslims that just heard how terrible American are. I am going to be Candian for the next few months.
Well, I am going to go to bed now so I can get some sleep before the Muslim call to prayer blasts through the air at 4:00 in the morning!