1/27 West J

West J is totally different from the old city! You feel like you just went forward in time! West J is totally modern! There is a mall (with an American Eagle I might add) and there are modern buildings and it is just crazy the difference. Of course in order to get to West J you have to go through the old city but that is always fun. We just walked through. We went to shabban’s shop again cause a lot of the people in our group hadn't been yet and they got to dress up! It was nice to just walk through and it was kinda funny because there was a black out while we were walking through so the streets where really dark because none of the shops had light! It was definitely an experience! 

Once we got out of the old city we just decided to explore West J. As we were walking down the main street we found this bakery called SamBooki That was soooo super good!!!

After that we found this park that was the funnest thing EVER!! They had a bunch of stuff to play on that I had never seen before and it was just a blast! We just kinda walked around west J cause we didn't really have a plan but it was kinda cool just to watch the people and see the difference between East and West Jerusalem.

That night we met up at Jaffa Gate with some other people from the center to go get dinner in West J. The rule of the center is that you can’t be in the old city or East Jerusalem after dark but you can be in west Jerusalem after dark as long as you take a cab back and you are back before midnight. So this was the first time that I had stayed out of the center after dark and it was cool. We went to this burger place cause a burger just sounded super delicious! We started out in a HUGE group but only a few of us split off to go get burgers. They were pretty good but they were definitely different then in the states. They where Kosher! I really learned the meaning of Kosher that night because I didn't realize that they drain all the blood from the meat. Because of that, the consistency of the meat was almost weird and it just wasn't as good! Even though it could in no way be compared to a burger back home it was still pretty good!

After dinner we went for a walk just around the city, to go get some Gelato. On our way down the street there was this guy selling puppies! So of course we had to stop and hold the puppies! You can’t walk past a box of puppies and not just want to adopt every single one of them! We all wished that it were possible to get one because they were so freaking adorable! Anyway so after that we went to get some gelato! Oh my goodness this Gelato is sooooo freaking good! It was the same place that we stopped at during the walking tour but I decided to actually try and get some! It was super delicious! This time I got snickers but I wish that I had gotten the mango because it literally tastes like you just cut open a mango right there! It is soooo delicious!

After freezing to death being outside and eating our gelato, we ran into the rest of our group who had an interesting experience during dinner. They went to this pasta place that one of our security guards goes to all the time. Well while they where there someone left a bad in the street. Here in the middle east you don’t just leave a bag lying around and I will explain why. While they were inside the restaurant they noticed that the police where blocking off the street and no one was allowed down. They were really confused but didn't think much of it until they heard an explosion. If there is a suspicious object (such as a bad) just lying around, here they are not going to check it out, they just blow it up. Haha so our whole group got to witness this take place! I wish I had been there but it is a kinda neat story to tell anyway.

After meeting up with them we decided to see if we could go find some clubs because there were some people in our group that wanted to go clubbing. Well what we didn't really think about was the fact that it was only 7 o’clock. Haha we felt pretty stupid after that and we decided to go home. Since we aren't allowed in East Jerusalem after dark we have to take a cab or a van home. There were like 28 or so of us so we called security and ordered a van. It was kinda neat to have that experience and get to go out after dark. I think that I will definitely do it again!