A Day in the city

Yesterday was awesome because it was the first time we got to go out in the city on our own. Every other time I have got out It has been with teachers and so it was awesome to get to go out and do whatever we wanted. At first my roommates and I had decided to stay at the center to do homework but thanks to peer pressure we decided to go. This is one of the few times I will say that I really appreciate the peer pressure!

The First thing that we did was go to the Money changers. It was really cool. It is weird though to have to go somewhere to get different money so that you can pay for things. Especially since we have to figure out what coins are what! Haha but Aladdin’s (the money changers) was way cool because of all the notes all over the walls. When we walked in there were the notes all over the walls and I didn’t really think anything of it until I actually looked at them. When I started reading them I noticed that all of them are from previous JC-ers! It was really neat to go through and read all of the notes and advice that they had for us. It was especially cool because I found one in there that was written by my friend Ryan Chapman. What made that note even better was that he was engaged at the time that he was here and he wrote his note to people who are engaged and here. Turns out my roommate is engaged and that note helped her a ton! So thanks for that Ryan!! J

After the money changers are group had lost quite a few people but it didn’t matter! We walked to Damascus gate so that we could go just explore the old city. When we got to the gate our group kinda split up into smaller groups of about three or four people (because you always have to have three people in a group at a time). We decided that it would be better to be in smaller groups cause that way we don’t have to keep track of so many people. I went with Katie, Tyler, and Jessica. It was really cool because we didn’t really have anything we for sure wanted to do so we just kinda walked around to see what we could find!

At first we were just kinda walking around looking at shops. It is really funny because all the shop keepers try their hardest to get you to buy something or to come look. Sometimes they just push stuff into your hands so that you can look at it. It is completely different then in the states but it is really neat. They are always saying “special price for Mormons” or when you say that you don’t want it they will lower the price. It is also really weird for me to be in a bartering society. I have always always been somewhere where the prices are set and you don’t get to talk them down. Here, in the old city, that is what you do. You try to decide what you want to spend on something. It is kinda funny how you won’t even say anything or you don’t want anything but they will still keep lowering the price “just for you.”

While we were just walking around we turned down this alleyway. When we started walking down it, we decided that it must be a residential area but that we might as well go see it. So we kept walking and we found this little neighborhood hardware store and at the end of the alley, where another street appeared, there was this door. We couldn’t really read the sign that was on the side of the door but there was a neon sign above the door that said Open. After standing there for a moment Jessica decided to try to open the door. It was looked I guess but someone heard us trying to open it and they opened the door to let us in. Well we found out that it was a guesthouse. It was really cool inside. Very open and spacious. We all thought that it would be a really neat experience to actually stay in the old city. It was really really cool!

After that we found another little, almost, hole in the wall. It was we decided that it was open so we might as well go see what it was! So we walked in and it was almost like apartments. So it was basically this neighborhood right in the middle of the old city and it was sooo quiet! It was really cool to go from the hustle and bustle of everything to the peace and quiet of this neighborhood.

 Next we found Shabaan’s!! Shabaan’s is one of the store in the city that caters to “the Mormons” he sells scripture cases and BYU T-shirts/sweatshirts! He was super nice and his son Omar was too. It was really neat because they dressed us up in traditional clothing so that we could take pictures. It was way fun!

Katie

Tyler

Me :)

Jessica

 So we took pictures in there for a while and then decided to keep going. So after that we decided to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This time we didn’t get to go in the tomb or anything but it was really neat because you could see people’s tears all over the stone of the anointing. It is so cool to me that so many people come here because it is one of the holiest places on earth to them and just to lay there and weep for your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the spot…it is amazing!

We also almost got caught in a fight right there by the church. When we first got there we started talking to this guy about the key and ladder of the church. The Key and Ladder of the church are owned by a Muslim family and this is s big tradition of this church. Well while we were talking to this guy about it three other guys walked passed and stared at us. It was kinda creepy but the guy that we were talking to basically told us to ignore them and not to worry about them. So after a rather long conversation with this guy we looked around and then we had to go. While we were leaving those three other guys came up to us and told us that they guy we had been talking to was crazy and not to believe anything he said. They said that one of them was from the family that held the key and ladder and that other guy was crazy. So then the first guy came up to us and was telling us to ignore the other three and all of them were arguing. They kept trying to convince us that the other was crazy and they continued trying to get Tyler to admit the other was crazy. They were arguing pretty hardcore and then we were able to slip out. It was kind freaky at first but not that I look back it is kinda funny!

After that, we started to head back to the center. We just kinda talked and looked around at the city on our way back and it was really nice. Another thing that I notice about the city is the different kind of shops. It is amazing how many different things there are. There are many shops that seem to be souvenirs and the like but there are so many other types of stores. It is almost like a mall in a way. You go walking down the street and there are clothing shops, shoe stores, and places to buy jewelry, but there are also so places that you wouldn’t see normally in the states. There were many spice shops filled with different kind of cooking spices and there were quite a few butchers. You could walk down the street and see the meat hanging right there in front of you. It is something that I have never seen before but I thought it was awesome. The stores are all very unique in their own way and it was really neat.

Sadly Sarah had gotten split off from our group so we didn’t get to see her until she got back but when she did, she brought chocolate. She had bought many different kinds of chocolate while she was out and decided that we all needed to try them. So we sat on our beds and each tried a bite of about 7 or 8 different chocolates. It was fun!  

There is sooo much more to do that I don’t think I will get to do everything I want while I will be here! I love it and this is how I am living my life and being brave! I am being adventurous and recording all of my adventures right here for you all to read!  I just hope my blog doesn’t bore any of you too much J