We finally made it!!!!

After a ridiculously long trip, we finally arrived in Jerusalem! All the traveling went pretty smooth, except for the fact that I had only gotten three hours of sleep the previous night and got a grand total of 30 min of sleep on all of the flights. I didn't know that I could even function on so little of sleep for 3 days. It was really fun getting to know all the different people that will be on the program with me. I am really excited about the group that I am with. It looks like a really fun group of kids. There really were only two things of note with the trip over.

So we flew into Vienna from the states, which I was really excited about because I thought that we were spending the night there, but turns out that I read the itinerary wrong and we only had an hour layover or so. But that is not what I was not what I was going to say. Anywho, I had a major flashback when I flew into Vienna. We ended up at the very same gate that I flew out of when I was coming home from my mission. It was 11 months to the day when I had been standing there with my mission buddies from the MTC and we met a senior couple that was traveling out to there mission and a bunch of missionaries fresh from the MTC with their bad haircuts and nasty part :) I'm allowed to say that because I was one of those. It was so strange to think that I have been home that long. It made me really homesick for Ukraine. I was tempted to just head over to another gate and catch a ride to Ukraine for a quick detour. I don't think that it would have been much appreciated, so I refrained (just barely though). As we were flying out, the pilot announced that we would be flying over Sophia and the Black Sea, which only threw me further back into flashbacks. We got our Visas renewed in Bulgaria and our mission was right on the Black Sea. I couldn't believe how beautiful the Black Sea is. There are these awesome islands all throughout the Black Sea that look so cool. My new dream is to buy one of those islands and build a mansion on it! The other cool thing is that the guy I was sitting next to. I asked him to let me by when I was sitting down on the plane and I could tel that he didn't understand English but knew what I was asking. He was wearing a Kippa so he was obviously a Jew. I knew that I wasn't going yo be able to talk to him. All of a sudden he whips out of copy of this newspaper and I look over and I could read it! It kind of confused me at first because I knew that he didn't understand me, but then I realized that it was in Russian, so I got to chat it up with him on the airplane. I know that I am going to love it here, I have heard so much Russian already and I have been here only a day!
Anyway, today was really sweet too. We got to go out on the town and see the old city on a little tour. We were in a group with the director of the Jerusalem Center. It was so amazing to see all of the things. I never really associated so many of the stories of the Bible with a place, in my head they were all in this mystical place that got taken up with the City of Enoch, but all of a sudden they materialized in my head. I know that I am going to be spending a lot of time at those sights, so I won't bother trying to describe them all right now.
One thing that blows my mind is that this place, considered holy by 3 religions, has been turned into one huge market. I always imagined the streets to be just the way they were back in the time of Christ's life, but there are vendors selling souvenirs and all that other stuff. That just blows my mind. It is like money changers in the temple!
The best thing, well, maybe not the best, but what topped it all of was the end of our little excursion. We ended up in west Jerusalem on this walking street with shops everywhere. We had gotten 30 shekels to spend. I was walking down the street when I got a glance of my favorite word in any language. GELATO!!!!  I was so excited. You probably can't understand what this word does to me. So of course I took a little detour and went with a group of kids to get my first gelato in the Holy Land. What better way to end the trip than with a two scoops of heaven in a bowl? I submit that there isn't! Unfortunately, my spirits were dampened shortly thereafter. One of the girls informed me that some of them were talking and decided that I was going to find my wife while I was here. What is with all this pressure?! That is like the tenth time people have told me that, but I never expected it from the people that are here. Can a man have some peace?! ;b
Anyway, that is a rundown of the excitement so far. I am so excited, and utterly exhausted. I woke up this morning to my roommate going to the bathroom and I have been so excited that if I wake up it is for good, because I am instantly awake. So we all got up at 4 o'clock and listened to the call of prayer for Ramadan. So we were all sitting out on the balcony at 4 in the morning. I'll guarantee that one won't be happening again! So I figured that I better take some pictures of because I won't ever be awake to get similar pictures at that time again.