Day 3?

Not sure what day it is. Spending all that time at the airports got me all messed up. Anyway here is a little update. We arrived in Jerusalem earlier today and it is a beautiful city from what we have seen. We arrived just before sunset so we did not tour around too much. Right now we are in the new city and tomorrow we will be going to the old city where all of the history is. Jerusalem is the one of the holiest cities for the worlds 3 largest religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism. I am not the most observant Jew, but there is definitely a certain spiritual feeling from being in this city. Today we talked with an Arab-Israeli woman who gave a unique insight into her situation as a Muslim in a Jewish state. For those of you who do not know, Israel was created as a Jewish State in 1948. Since then it has been a pretty crazy history. It is really cool to learn about this history from first hand accounts. Arab-Israelis are people of Arab decent who where in what was known as Palistine before Israel was created in 1948. When Israel was given its independence in 1948 the Arabs that stayed were granted Israeli citizenship. Today, they live in separate "Arab" villages scattered throughout the country. Discrimination and un-equal treatment exists even now. Talking with this woman about her feelings on the issue was great. I will not go into too much detail about things like this as they are very complicated even for those who are involved. If you would like to find out more you can do some research on some of the things and places that I will mention. Each place we visit we are meeting and talking with Israeli people about different subjects. Obviously Israel and the Middle-East are in the news almost everyday. It has been really educational to learn about these situations first hand. Israel is actually at war with Gaza at the moment . I bet some of you did not know that......I didn't. They are also bordered by two countries that do not even recognize their statehood (Syria and Lebanon) and two in which they are in a "cold peace" (Egypt and Jordan). The situation here is unique in that Israel is in the middle-east and religions and cultures have clashed here for thousands of years. Talking with people and thinking about ways to solve these problems has made me realize just how complicated it is. On a different note, today we also visited some natural springs in the northern area of Israel. Israel is a small country. Only about a 6 hour drive top to bottom and 2 across. I find this is the easiest way to get a feel for just how tiny it is as we all drive everyday. The springs were beautiful. It was like a desert oasis. Mountains were on both sides and palm trees lined the banks of several large pools for about the span of 1/2 a mile. The pace of the trip has been fast so that we can see and do as much as possible in the short amount of time we are here. Tomorrow we will go to the old city and tour the many historical places there. Will update you as soon as I can. Internet is like 10 shekls per minute which is like 3 dollars. So this was like a $30. I put a lot thought into these writings!! Just kidding, not too much! The pics on here are of the spring we went to and the other one is of one of our guard/guides named Galid, which means eternal happiness in hebrew. He was in the Israeli military, as all citizens are required to serve 3 years for guys and 2 for girls when they turn 18. He carries the gun everywhere, including the bars! Not something your would see in the states. However, Israel is safe despite what you may see on the news. At no time have I felt even the slightest bit threatened. Enjoy and Happy Fathers Day!!