February 7

Salutations!

When we first got here, the country was still in the grip of a years-long drought. It was hot and dry, and I thought to myself, "How nifty that I did not take up too much room in my suitcase packing warm clothes."

Then, the week we went to Egypt, a cold, heavy rain swept in. And stayed. It washed out roads in the Sinai and made all the waddis flow in the wilderness. This past week, we've been mostly staying in because of the cold and rain. It even hailed. Our rooms are down these hallways which are open to the sky; it's supposed to be reminiscent of a street in the old city. It means that, to get to breakfast in the morning, you have to run down the hall through freezing rain. Friday I went out to get falafel with a couple of friends, and we ate standing under an arch to keep out of the rain. It was a pleasant day, but my hands hurt from the cold and my fingers went stiff.

Today though, was nice: warm in the sun, chilly in the shade or the wind. Two of my roommates and I went out into the world. We saw Absalom's pillar, supposedly the same one mentioned in 2 Samuel. We also walked up stone steps to Zachariah's tomb, and sat on a ledge between the columns, looking down on the boys herding goats below. Then we wandered up along the wall of the city and saw a few more sites. The coolest was Dormition Abbey, this beautiful Byzantine church full of stained glass windows and mosaics. Mary is supposedly buried in the crypt below, though she also supposedly was translated, so maybe it's just a memorial. Either way, there was a statue of Mary in the basement surrounded by glittering mosaics. We met up with some other girls there, and we listened as a Latin song floated up from the crypt. Then we sang, "I Believe in Christ" just because, and the acoustics were amazing.

Afterwards we got hamburgers in a kosher restaurant in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. It was truly delicious, and even now I feel replete. Beautiful day!

-Stella