Wandering the New City

It is still rather surreal to think that I am here, living in Jerusalem, and being fairly immersed into such a different culture. I wake up to the bells of the Greek Orthodox church/school that is right next to us every morning at 7. I definitely don't need an alarm clock as they ring for five minutes straight. That doesn't seem like a long time....but it makes it hard to fall back to sleep....that's for sure :).

Classes have begun and I am really excited about what I am going to learn this semester. I am taking a class from a Rabbi who is teaching us how Rabbi's think, interpret scripture, and the ancient literature about scripture that they hold very sacred. There methods of interpreting scripture are quite different and it is very evident how Westernly we all think and process information. What a stretch it will be to adopt another mindset when reading the TaNaKh (also known as the Old Testament). I am also taking a class called, "Jewish Jesus to Christianity". We are looking at how Jesus was a Rabbi, the culture in which he lived and did ministry, and will develop a better understand how he used scripture in his speaking ministry and how what it was like for him culturally during those days. That class is also taught by a Jewish man who is extremely knowledgable about the New Testament and life of Jesus. Should be interesting. He is also my Hebrew professor and I am sure that class is going to be a challenge! My only other class is called Physical Settings of the Bible and is going to have many trips around the land and many long days of traveling during the semester, but I cannot wait to go out and discover new things. Sunday is our 11 hour day during a Biblical tour of Jerusalem...should be incredible, I'll post pics!

With classes starting I have already realized the tension between wanting to get out and see new things but also having an abundance of homework to do! The reading has kicked into high gear and I'm really needing to study my Hebrew frequently. But amongst the tension I have found some time to go out in the New City and look around with some friends....I took a few pics and this will give you an idea of the night life in the New City...It's a very busy place in the evenings!

This is the city center square....there is something called, "The United Buddy Bears of Tolerance" that is somewhat of an art exhibit. These bears are from all nations and line the sides of the city square and are decorated according to their nation. It's pretty interesting!

The United States of America....Statue of Liberty...This one is the tallest because of the torch....of course we had to go one step above to be the biggest and tallest! Pretty funny!
I forget what nation this represents but all these bears are really colorful!
This is Ben Yehuda street at night...there are usually tons of people around and stores to go in...it's busy every night!
Damascus Gate into the Old City...a little blurry without a tripod!
So this is a shot of some of the steps that you would see all over the city. In the Old city some of these steps have smoothed over so much because of the many people that come through, that they almost create a little slope instead of steps. Anyway, these stones are all over the city as walkways.