Trying to prepare our selves for India, the rest of our time in Jerusalem was spent taking the days easy and running last minute errands (like getting toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and contact solution). After a couple days of strolling through the neighborhoods of Jerusalem we had visited the German neighborhood to delight ourselves with great coffee and a wonderful lunch, we had stopped at the archaeological dig of The City of David to walk through the Hezekiah's tunnel (please check out the following website as it is quite informative and a good portrayal of our experience. For us the water at its highest was just above the knee and we felt quite adventurous sloshing through the water with our head lamps), we visited the Ethiopian church in time to listen to evening prayers, and made our final visit to our favorite hummus shop.

To get a different taste for what Jerusalem is all about we had also decided to couch surf. We were lucky to have found Moran and Ron, both university students in the sciences. What we learned from them was about the stresses of attempting to get a higher education when your professors are on a teaching strike (they had been all year semester, this meant that some students weren't able to officially graduate since the professors were holding onto their grades). So the classes at the university are self teach and/or lead by teaching assistants. Mike and I decided we shouldn't have complained so much about not understanding our foreign professors since they at least taught.

The other thing we experienced was a local's perspective on a suicide bomber threat. Our time of couchsurfing coincided with the Annapolis Middle East Peace Talks with President Bush. So the suicide bomb threat in Jerusalem was not surprising. What did surprise us were the responses we saw to it. Our taxi driver that day was in a VERY foul mood since less people were using public transport and more people were driving - creating bad traffic and a headache for him. On the streets it was obvious that more people were choosing to walk and buses weren't quite as full. Our couchsurfing hosts and their friends were nonchalant. Using public transport later that week meant being herded off the bus at a security checkpoint. In the end nothing happened in Jerusalem and we can only pray that some progress was made at the convention.

November 20th - 24th
Jerusalem

November 25th - 27th
Remaining time in Israel