Shalom from Jerusalem!

Shalom everyone!
My apologies for the delay in updating the blog. We've been on the move and this is the first time we've had internet access. It has been an amazing 2 days! After landing in Tel Aviv we met up with our 8 fantastic Israeli participants, and 2 Israeli staff members. We met in the airport and sang a rousing song called "Achim" which means "brothers" in Hebrew. Then our group of 50 exhausted people (The Americans had been on a plane for 11 hours and the Israelis woke up at 4 am to meet us) drove to our hotel, Neve Shalom, which is located just outside of Jerusalem. Neve Shalom is an amazing place. It is the only community in the country where Israelis and Arabs choose to live side by side. We explored the grounds a bit and then went to a newer section of Jerusalem to see some sights, amazing landscapes, and have dinner. We had our first taste of authentic Israeli food (shwarma and falafel were plentiful) and then we headed back to the hotel in the evening. It was a fairly light day, which was much needed. We then got the best night's sleep of all time before embarking on our journey this morning.

Today we had breakfast at 7:30 and then set off for the mountains of Jerusalem (Harei Yehuda in Hebrew). We hiked through beautiful land for about 3 hours and discussed the history of Jerusalem. We then went to "the shook," which is an outdoor market in Jerusalem, for lunch and then walked all throughout the city before going to the Old City. Shahar, our tour guide, gave us an amazing history lesson as we walked. The Old City was spectacular. We walked through streets that are thousands of years old, and then went to the Western Wall, also known as The Kotel. After a moving experience there we went back to the hotel to have dinner. We then took some time to prepare for Yad Vashem tomorrow. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum, is a very intense experience so we had everyone share some personal experiences with the Holocaust in their family, and describe their thoughts about this tragic event. It's about 11 PM now and we are all exhausted after a long day. Everyone is hanging out and chatting now and will soon head to bed to get ready for tomorrow. Speaking of which, I should do the same. Layla tov (goodnight) from Jerusalem!