shwarma and fallafel

Every time I come across a story about Israel and Palestine (like this one) it reminds me of the Furnace trip. I pulled a map on Wikimapia and was looking at the area again, remembering different locations and events. I try to find our hostel in Tel Aviv, then follow the roads to find the bus station and the park where we did a lot of outreach to drug addicts and homeless folks. Then I track north to Galilee and the tour stops, baptisms, and Jesus Boats. I think something special happened on one of those boats...

Then I try to find the road that runs along the Jordan River back into Jerusalem that our bus followed. That is especially fun, because on Wikimapia users can tag locations on the map, and there are tags all over Jerusalem. So it is instant memories, as I can find the Mount of Olives, Temple Mount, and (what might be) Jesus' tomb. I think I even found the house where we stayed with our "guides", and now I'm looking for Cafe Aroma and Meat Burger. Yes, there's not much better than a chocolate croissant and an Iced Aroma. (Tela... VIV!) Interestingly, both of those last two, according to google, are located on Hilel St. At the time I didn't know who Hilel was, but now I do! (Thanks Rob!)

And really, I can thank (or blame...) this trip for why I'm in Pasadena typing this right now. It was standing on the Mount of Olives and looking down at Jerusalem that I thought "This is where everything happened". It came alive like never before, and seeing these places made we want to learn more and more. I can't remember if that was before or after Ryan and I rode on the camel, but I'm sure it was unrelated! :) Hahaha! Good times.

So to all of the Tel Aviv team for being so cool and stomping so well, to Ryan for keeping me company during the tours and the camel ride, to Ben for showing us how a camel really should be ridden (with an umbrella, for the record), to Frierson for not ditching us for the Ethiopians, to Joe for being my personal photographer, to Ron for singing, to B for buying IDF t-shirts with me, to Stefan for setting the bar impossibly high (and still taking time to hang out with us and not just his new fiance), and to Matt for the good debriefing talk just before we left, thanks for the memories. Love you all!