Friday 26/12/08

This morning we went to Mount Herzl, the Israeli national cemetery where the leaders of the nation are buried alongside the soldiers who died while serving. Every Israeli knows someone buried there and every grave has a story. Daniel walked us around telling us some of these, and Divon did as well. The soldiers were still on the younger side so many didn't know anyone, yet. It was tough. It seemed like nothing really uplifting was in Jerusalem for the trip.

To lift the spirits a bit, we went to Ben Yahuda Market for the coming of Shabbat. It was a madhouse. We got more falafal and shawarma for lunch, grabbed a few things and then headed back to sneak in a nap before heading to the Kotel. Katie got lost so that was stressful.

I sat at the dinner table with Daniel and his family. His 4 year old son, Hunky, and I taught each other words. His favorite was flower. He screamed it a lot. David ran into his sister on another trip and I ran into a camp friend, Harrison. It's so crazy that you run into people. The chances of being in the same room in the same hotel all the way across the world. Or like last time, how I ran into people I knew on top of Masada. It's incredible!

We did a short Oneg Shabbat in the bomb shelter in the basement of the hotel and then some people snuck out, and others came down to my toga party. That turned sloppy quickly but everyone had a good time.