Post for Day 9 (May 10) - From the Golan to Yerushalayim

Wake up, as usual, was way too early, at around 6:30. As usual, we ate breakfast, then loaded up the bus, and then left for the Syrian border. As is quite common in the Middle East, it was very hot. We visited an old battlefield with trenches and bunkers and various implements of weaponry scattered about. We got to see the inside of a tank, and the bunkers and a military truck. Meanwhile, the bus had a flat tire, which delayed proceedings a bit, but not irreparably. Back on the bus, and our next stop was an electric dam on the Jordanian border, which was right next to a site dedicated to seven girls that had been shot by a Jordanian soldier. The temperature was 109 degrees, and the wind was extremely blustery. Then we went to Bet Alfa, an ancient synagogue with a beautiful floor designed as an exquisite mosaic, and it was still really really windy, and then we slept on the bus on the way to JERUSALEM!!! Our first stop was at an Ethiopian Jew’s house, where she told us her story, how she traveled from her home town in Ethiopia, through Sudan and London, and finally to Israel. After that, we briefly got settled in our hostel in Jerusalem, and finished the day off by shopping on Ben Yehudah Street.

- Sam Clark