Markets and Elvis

Today I had my first free day…

While mostly everyone has had just about 4 or 5 free days since we started this was my first, so instead of staying in and doing homework or just hanging around the Moshav I decided to go into the New City. Nothing new, just fun and a time to get off the Moshav again, even though I was just in Jerusalem yesterday. It was exciting though, getting to take the bus, try to use some Hebrew and not having to haggle for once, as the markets in the New City have set prices, a luxury not really prevalent in the Old City.

I went into the New City with my friends Rachel, Lydia, and Sandy, and the plan was to go to a coffee shop and do some homework.


From left to right: Rachel, Lydia, and Sandy waiting at the bus stop

That plan totally failed, but it was still fun. We just walked through some markets and tried to find lunch, which we ended up getting Pomegranate, some pastries, and pita. I also finally got the Fanta I’ve been craving all week AND it was European style Fanta, which is more juice than soda (yes!). It was all very yum, yum. Most of the time was spent walking and just exploring and we ended up going back early because we didn’t figure in the time to walk, so we never did get to the Aroma coffee shop that we so desperately wanted to settle at. Next time I go into the New City though it will just be to go to a coffee shop and hang out, I promise you that. It was pretty sweet though, as a handful of Israeli people came up to us at the bus stop and started asking about the bus schedule to us in Hebrew. We took that as a compliment as that might mean that we don’t look like tourists, which is the look we exactly want. We did get to go to the Elvis Café right in Abu Gosh and get some hot chocolate and the ever so coveted Elvis mugs that we’ve been wanting to use for class (getting the price for coffee/hot chocolate down to half a shekel, rather than one shekel). The Elvis Café is definitely saweet, so I’ll be back there again. Right now calls for a nap though and I guess people are going camping today, although I’m not feeling it so probably won’t go. It’s all good though. Time to try dreaming in some Hebrew. Until later.


The market in the New City

With Lydia and Sandy at the Market in the New City

Waiting at the Bus Stop in Jerusalem

Rachel and Lydia with their Elvis Mugs in the Elvis Café

Me with my Elvis Mug at the Elvis Café in Abu Ghosh

The Roman Road

Tonight we had our second Saturday Night Live, which was pretty fun, although I was really tired from the day in the Old City. It was cool though because we had a bond fire and a hike, which we took about a 45 minute walk to some Roman ruins up in the hills somewhere. So after having some hot dogs and smores around a fire at the Moshav, we set out, which I don’t have much of an idea why I went because I was seriously falling asleep on the walk. Oh yes. I will never get over my head cold at this rate, but whatev. It was a pretty sweet place to just hang around at and talk. It was funny because the guys built a fire just outside of the ruins for us to sit around at and talk, but everyone ended up sitting at the ruins talking and never going to the fire. I see where our priorities lie. That was probably the best part—sitting at the ruins and talking and laughing. Heard some pretty interesting stories and had some time to rest, so I really liked that. We even got to take a truck ride back to the Moshav in the back of a pick-up truck and that was really fun. For now, I’m pooped so time for bed. Tomorrow is my first free day and instead of resting here in my bed, I think I might just go into the New City. I’m crazy I know, but as they…Le Hayim! (To Life!)

From Around the Moshav

“We don’t bite! We are vegetarians…we only eat hummus!”

Today was another day in the old city and yet another day of experiences and most definitely stories. I had my first haggling experience and I have to say I’m rather proud of myself. I went into the Old City today with exactly what I wanted in mind to get and exactly what I wanted to get it for…and I did what I set out to do at the exact price I wanted to do it at. It was lots of fun being in control…well for the most part.

My mission: to buy a scarf and a pair of earrings. My price: 15 shekels. 10 for the scarf. 5 for the earrings. No more. No less. Okay…if they’d take less then that would be a total buy, but I didn’t want to push my luck on my first haggling experience. 

My friend, Jordan, and I originally set to just go to the Austrian Hostice, but we decided to go through the market with two of our other IBEX friends, Taylor and his girlfriend Ellie. After getting some Falafel (pita with salad and fried garbanzo beans), I set out for my mission. 

We started at some markets on Davidson’s street (which EVERYTHING is terribly overpriced there) and entering a large tent filled with scarves and such I soon found out that this would not be the place I would buy my scarf, as they seemed to be offering everything about 20-25 shekels over what I could get it at somewhere else, so I left that place empty handed. After just wandering through some places and having not much success, I finally found a little shop that would be the place of purchase for my scarf as I haggled down from 20 shekels down to 10, getting just the blue scarf that I wanted at the price I wanted

So, with half of my mission complete I set out for those earrings, which that was much easier said than done. We went through many, possibly just about every store in the Christian quarter and I could not find earrings for less than 10 shekels. 10 shekels isn’t a lot, but when I know I can get them for 5 shekels somewhere why settle for a higher price? (yes, I’m cheap I know…) But after trying to haggle some earrings from 35 shekels down to 10 and totally failing and being yelled at for offering such a low price, I had kinda given up on ever finding my earrings for 5 shekels. It wasn’t until we went through the Moslem quarter that the tables changed (is it bad that the Moslem quarter is much nicer and reasonable than the Christian Quarter?). We were rushing past markets, as I had given up looking, when a seller exclaims from his tent, “earrings 10 shekels…5 shekels!” 5-shekel earrings? Yes please! I immediately turned around and got my 5-shekel earrings in disbelief to the point that he said if I kept asking with uncertainty he might change his mind. I should always be confident with a price so good. So I picked out my earrings and completed my said mission, buying from a very cute seller mind you…I told him I would remember his store, and I wasn’t lying…heehee. 

My blue scarf and earrings I got today

The markets here are a bit crazy, as they’ll try just about any way to get you in their store to buy from them from saying “everything is on sale today” to saying “it is free to look today!” The one line that one of the sellers we talked to today loved to say, “Don’t worry we don’t bite! We are vegetarians…we only eat hummus!” which definitely made me laugh (hence the title of this post). One even tried to sway us by complimenting Taylor saying, “You are a very lucky man” speaking of the girl he was walking with. Mind you this was when he was walking behind me and not his girlfriend, which we found very amusing. So all in all it was a pretty hectic, fun day. There are many sellers throughout the market that will most likely remember my face since I probably walked past their store a handful of times and had some good conversations with some, while not having such good experiences with others. I think I have more of an idea of who to buy from and which areas are better than others, so I’ll know just where I need to go and avoid many places and people. I won’t be going through the markets in the Old City for a while, although my next mission is to find a hat. We’ll see how that goes. For now about to go get ready for dinner and the bond fire, and I'm very excited for that. Hot dogs, smores, fire, and hike is on the agenda tonight and although I'm tired I'm probably going to go. Oh the glorious tiredness of IBEX. :) 

Taylor smiling with some old medallions and coins

We ran into Marcy, Mitchell, and Larissa at Sheban's Shop in the Old City

Posing with my new scarf From Shabbat Shalom.

Deja Vu

Today we had another Field day

and where did we go?

Well, where else than Jerusalem! But actually we did not go to the Old City today and we barely had to take any notes which was GLORIOUS! We went into the New City today, just outside of the Old City on the Western side. It is very...how you say...Modern. Lots of stores and people and street performers and actually reminds me a lot of Dublin. Which fits because there's actually an Irish Pub in the New City of Jerusalem. Go figure. haha. But it was just a fun day to get to the city and explore and take pics, as we had a picture scavenger hunt. We even got to have lunch in the Jerusalem park and have Pizza hut. It was a very city day. :) Here's some fun pics from the day.


A Jewish man napping in the Jerusalem Park

Elyse on one of the workout play things at the Park

Our special delivery!

Lee enjoying his pizza

Carmen and Kim pose for a photo in the park

These guys were performing Worship songs in the square in the New City. I just wanted to join them; it was so wonderful

We stopped by the market in the New City for a bit and got sooo much food from our teacher!

This is one of the pictures we had to get for our scavenger hunt! They even have a McDonald's with a Ronald McDonald!

Took a while to get the shop keeper to let us take a pic with this knife but it was done!

We were given money to get coffee, so I definitely took advantage of that!

From West Jerusalem-The New City

The City of Our Great King

So us IBEXers didn’t have much of a weekend for our first weekend here. We actually had a class field trip today into where else but…Jerusalem! This time our focus was on the Old Testament (although we went to some New Testament sites) and the City of David where we were able to go through Hezekiah’s Tunnel underneath the city of David.

Again, we began our expedition entering the Jaffa Gate and quickly scuffled over to the middle of the Jewish Quarter, where our first stop was looking at a remnant of Hezekiah’s wall that was excavated in the 17th century.

It is known as the “Broad wall” for such heights and widths that it stood at. The building of the “Broad Wall” is accounted in 2 Chronicles 32:1-5, as Hezekiah was preparing for an attack from the Assyrians from the North of Israel. I didn't get a very good picture of it, but even if I could it wouldn't do it much justice....It was pretty tall i guess, although I missed a lot of the information about it.

We then moved to a Museum looking at a model of the 1st temple period. We went through basically all the history from when David conquered Jerusalem to Herod expanding the walls of the Kingdom in the North. We even got to look at a replica of the inscription found within Hezekiah's tunnel that told how they formed the tunnel underneath the City of David (which we would go through later) and also looked at some of the oldest artifacts that hold Biblical accounts (scripture, names) on them that were found within some tombs.

It was stop to stop to stop all day, writing as much information as I could on all I was hearing. We went to so many places I wouldn’t even know where to begin…“Briefly” listing some of the places we went today:


we went to an Ancient Byzantine-Roman Cardo street from 300-640 AD; the Church of the Last Supper that commemorates just that, where we reenacted the last supper;a Catholic graveyard that overlooked the Hinnon Valleyand stopped at Schindler’s grave; the southwestern side of the Temple mount where we saw Robinson’s arch, remnants of the fallen temple, and a portion of Herod’s temple on the Southern side where we recited some Psalms of Ascent, as we Ascended up the Herodian steps; we then finally made it to the City of David where welooked at remnants that may have served as David’s palace and bedrocks from the Canaanite period, went through Hezekiah’s tunnel to end at the Siloam Pool, where Jesus would have healed the man born blind; and finally ended our day at the location where David’s tomb may be.


I do have to say as jampacked as this day was and as cold as I was at the end of it, it was super exciting and I feel as if my mind is going to implode from all the information I’m getting in one day. It definitely was a very packed and exciting day with too much to talk about and with tons to describe as we saw the many remnants and archeological finds that connect so much to our faith found within the Bible. In fact there’s so much information I’m going to have to split this post in half…half general and one post just dedicated to our journey through Hezekiah’s tunnel, because I have to admit…that was definitely the coolest (both figuratively and literally) part of the day. But for now I’ll just let some pictures do some summarizing of the day. Enjoy.


a student walking through the Cardo Street

The Lion Gate

a class reenacting the Last Supper

Women praying at the site that commemorates David’s tombs underneath the Church of the Last Supper

A Jewish man just outside of the men’s prayer section

Oskar Schindler’s grave

The Temple Mount

The Western Wall of the Temple on the Southern Side

students stopping for a break after the uphill tread to David’s tomb

Overlooking an Arab Community in the Kidron Valley from the City of David

Yelling "Long live King Solomon" into the valley reenacting 1 Kings 6 (photo by Cassia VanDyke)

Friends, Katrina and Cassia, pose for a photo

The sun setting behind the City of David From Old Testament Jerusalem Walk