Day 155: So tired...

2/2/10

Hey, the date's normal for today! =D

Today was siyur day, and myself and a bunch of friends went to the Armenian Quarter. We walked to the intersection of all four quarters, and looked out over the old city, over the four cultures covering its history. The Armenian Quarter is incredibly different from the other three (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim). Instead of an area that's merely important to a certain culture, it's its own little country inside Jerusalem. When in the other quarters, you still feel very much that you're in Israel. In the Armenian, it feels like a new world. Everyone and everything in it is so secluded that many of the children don't grow up learning Hebrew (the national language). Instead, they learn Armenian, shop within the quarter, and largely don't stray far from home. They are essentially Catholic, but believe that Jesus is one (god and man), as opposed to the Catholics who believe in two parts of Jesus: the man who ate, slept, etc, and the God who performed miracles. [This is what I understood from the Armenian priest, if I'm explaining this wrong, please correct me]. After a short tour of the area, we discussed the issue of recognizing the Armenian genocide. We were all of the opinion that we, as Jews, had an obligation to officially recognize the events of 1915-1918 because we went through similar experiences (in fact, most of the murder methods used during the Holocaust were adapted by Hitler from the Armenian genocide). It was interesting, therefore, to hear our guide say that they were not the same, and that ours was special. Ours may have been the most dramatic historically, but I don't think there's any difference between the systematic murder of 100 people, or 1.5 million people, or 6 million people. It shouldn't matter how many were killed or what the reasons behind the mass executions were, murder is murder, and any group that is attacked in such ways deserves respect and recognition.

Following the siyur, a few friends and I went to the Jewish Quarter and went shopping at the Cardo (the main shopping lane). It was great! We bought fun things, ate bagels, and...STALKED MIKE HUCKABEE! We were eating our bagels when a huge group of guards walked by. My friend noticed they were with Huckabee, and we ran and stalked him to the Kotel. We still have no idea what he was doing there, but it was amusing to see the Israelis wonder why the Americans cared about some random suit. =D

The afternoon was sleepy. Relaxed for a while and went to Torah Yoga (p.s. extremely painful with a new bellybutton piercing!). DINNER WAS AMAZING! My Madricha, Emma, organized a making sushi night, and we sat for a couple hours making interesting versions of sushi and stuffing ourselves. Many funny pics to come of that. :)

I am off to bed now!
Lots of Love,
Rachel