When we got to our Air BnB, my mom and dad immediately went to the market and we took a shower and got into our *PJ’s.* We did some math and then read for a few minutes. When our parents got home my dad cooked dinner and we read our new book, Wild Swans. It is about a family line, the grandmother, the mother, and then the daughter. They all grow in different time periods in China, it shows how China changed over the years. At first, I didn’t like it, then I got into it, but after a few minutes I was sound asleep anyway. The next day we took easy. Kai and I did our homework (math, history and language arts, which in this case is the blog that I am writing right now) and our parents did research on the next places we were would go after Jerusalem. After everyone was done with their work, we all went to the market. When we came back it was dark outside, we ate dinner and took a quick shower, then read in bed until I passed out again (it did not take too long).

We actually did do something the next day. We got on the tram. Yep, we got on a metro. That was our achievement for the day. JK. We took the tram to the Old City of Jerusalem and walked around. We passed lane after lane of markets, pottery, jewelry and so much more! Around 6pm we came across a lane of people making their way to a wall. We followed them and soon I saw masses of people crowding a massive, white stone wall with bits of paper sticking out of the cracks. Some of the people were sobbing, others had their eyes closed in prayer and were seesawing or rocking forward and backward. They were wearing dark suits and tall black hats that reminded me of Abraham Lincoln. 

 I asked my mom what it was, and she said it was the Western Wall. I pulled at the back of my mind and I remembered something about it. I asked the history teacher in my family and I learned that it was

part of the temple where Judaism originated (the rest of the temple was destroyed by Muslims, who built another temple over the spot where it was, because they believed it was there that Mohammad ascended into heaven). We went in and prayed for a few minutes. Once we where back outside, my mom started

to speak in French with my dad. I caught little things like, money, girls, good, fresh. I looked at Kai puzzled. We got the answer a few minutes later when my mom placed a fresh pomegranate drink in hand. The afternoon consisted of walking through narrow streets and looking at beautiful jewelry and pottery. With a few tired yawns we were on the next train home. We arrived and my mom cooked dinner as we showered and got into our pjs. We sat down and ate an excellent dinner. I went to sleep that night and dreamed of pomegranate drinks, French words, and lots of pretty jewelry.

 I woke up early the next day and smelled something I had not even dreamed of, my mom’s pancakes. We had honey and butter on our pancakes. I stuffed myself until I couldn’t eat anymore. Once I finished I did my homework and then

once everyone had completed their work, we ate a quick lunch and got back on the tram. We arrived at roughly 6pm and walked straight to a market. We got baclava and lots of other treats. After it got dark we were so loaded up with food, I didn’t think we would be able to eat it in a year. I kept staggering around as I got more and more bags!

Finally, my mom said one last stop. We groaned and she said, “You’ll like this one, I promise.” I walked over and nearly dropped my bags. My mom stood holding a huge smoothie. I quickly gave my bags to my dad and ran over. “I really like this last stop!” I said. My mom smiled, and I split the shake with my sister. We tried to get on the tram only to find out that it was closed because of the Sabbath. No vehicles were allowed to run for the day. We had to walk three miles home. Near the entrance to our Air BnB, my mom said I would feel better if I had a bite of pizza. I said that

I wouldn’t. She stopped at a pizza restaurant and bought a piece. As soon as I was done, I felt 100 times better and ran home from there. When we got home we ate more from the huge shopping bags of food, and fell asleep instantly.

I slept in until 11 the next day, and stumbled out of bed bleary eyed. My entire family was sitting on the couch with their phones. They looked up at the same time and my dad said, “Your breakfast is on the counter.” I looked over and saw a steaming plate of pancakes on the counter. I looked back and forth between my family, who at this point had already gone back to their phones, and my breakfast. I really tried to figure out how they had gotten up earlier than me, but it was too complicated with my tired brain and a plate of steaming pancakes in front of me. I dove in.

Once I had finished and my parents told me that I had been very tired and overslept, I suffered through one hour of math and one hour of language arts. The treachery. Finally, I got my reward. “Get up and get dressed” my mom demanded. When the whole family finally got outside, it was just turning 2:30 and the hottest part of the day. We went back to the market and the Wailing Wall. Today it was so late that we had to go back almost immediately because the market closed at 8pm. We got on the train and shuffled back home. My dad cooked dinner, then Kai and I went to bed.

The waves swept up onto the beach as I sat on my towel and looked up at the colorful sunset, purple, pink, yellow and blue…the colors swirled together…my leg jerked and I sat bolt upright, my eyes wide open. I saw the shadow of a very mean twelve year old sister slink away as I ripped off the covers and got dressed. Today we would go to Bethlehem where Jesus was born.  We climbed back onto the tram and headed to the bus station to catch a ride to the West Bank and Palestine. After passing through a bunch of military checkpoints, we arrived in Bethlehem and made our way to the church that is located on the spot where Jesus is supposed to have been born. We explored Bethlehem for about three hours and them headed back to Jerusalem. The next day we were headed to Tel Aviv. I told my mom, “I’m craving some beach time, when will we get it?” My mom chuckled, “just you wait, sweetie, you won’t want anymore beach after our next destination…”