Boredom and random sets in in Israel

So I am getting pretty bored here in Israel. Now that my tour is over I feel like I have seen pretty much everything I wanted to see. This is when I decided to officially book my flight back to the good ole US of A at the beginning of July. I had not booked it in case I had the desire to stay in Europe and travel more. I decided I want to spend the 4th of July in the US. Got my flight to DC and thinking I will spend the 4th in DC or Philadelphia where it all began and spend a little time on the East Coast. Or I may just head back to SLC for the 4th. Not sure what I'll do as of yet.

I'm back in Jerusalem for the sabbath which is on a Saturday here.

My Philippines friends wanted to meet up with me and same with our Irish friends. We were meeting up to go to the Western Wall to watch them celebrate the start of the Sabbath. I was at least thrilled I had cool friends to hang out with all night, and hang out we did. But I didn't really take pictures of us hanging out. Sad.

Typical scene in old city. Car blocking the walkway.


These new Russian type hats are new! But we see them everywhere tonight.


After a few hours of being down among the people celebrating and worshipping we came up here for a nice view. People go pretty crazy for the sabbath here. Many college age kids are all hooked at the arms and come in singing and dancing. The Orthodoc Jews are reading the Torah and continually bowing a hundred miles an hour. It is quite the experience! Very amusing and entertaining to watch. I loved hanging out with my Philippine friends and Irish Gypsy's! All so much fun and great people.


This was the old downtown Jerusalem area.


After a long long night of hanging with Naneth, her cousin, Kate and her family I was off to home. This had to be the most interesting walk I have ever taken. The ultra extreme orthodox Jews EVERYWHERE!!! Because of the sabbath no cars were on the road either. It was 45 minutes of walking through streets like this.








Wow! So funny here.

Funny story here, wasn't funny at the time but now I'm laughing. The pictures below are my bed and breakfast. So when I checked in I wondered what was up because there is an actual kitchen in my room. The fridge is stock piled, dishes everywhere. I shrug it off and am happy I can eat breakfast right here tomorrow morning.

At about 7:30am I wake up to someone keying my door open. Never ever a good feeling, kind of scary actually. I had the bar thing locked so the door opens but the bar stops it from opening all the way. At this point I say, "I'm in here!" then a man says, "I need in! I'm working here!" my first thought is to say IM SLEEPING HERE! I ask him what the devil is he talking about. He then says, "I make breakfast for everybody! I working here! Open up!" you gotta be freaking kidding me! Who puts a guest in the freaking kitchen!?!? Morons. So I lay in bed while he takes the next half hour and gets breakfast ready...





I wanna kill this dude at this point! I'm a bear in the morning! Elders on my mission lived by the 15 minute rule, don't talk to Elder Yates unless he has been awake for 15 minutes or more.

I told this guy there was no way I was sleeping in the bed in the kitchen again. He said another room is open the next night. Luckily...


After the intrusion and breakfast I headed for church. I stared at the BYU center all week but now that I'm on the hill I can't find it! Wow I was fired up. Had to eventually get a taxi. Not my morning.


After church this girl Becca I had met last week said hello again. I asked her if she wanted to hang out, she agreed!

We walked to the Orson Hyde Park and the traditional Garden of Gethsemane. This olive tree is incredible! Hundreds and hundreds of years old.


After a walk through the old city again (it feels like I have seen everything here 2 or 3 times now) Becca took me to her apartment where we ate and chatted for hours. We hung out with her brother who lives there and another lds dude that lives with them.

They told me all about Jerusalem and how the Holy Land high fades away and it becomes pretty difficult to live in the middle east. We also laughed at how abrupt and confrontational Israeli people are. We discussed the Israeli and Arab conflict a lot too. I had a great time with these guys! Great to hang out with locals who have lived here for a couple years.


The next morning as I was eating some breakfast these two ladies told me about how they got lost for 8 hours the day before. They had no itinerary and clearly needed some help. I gave them a good idea of what they can do and see.

To my astonishment they asked if I would join them today. I was going to Haifa so I told them I couldn't. They asked if anything I had helped them plan was on the way and they were now offering me a ride to Haifa lol. I could tell they didn't realize how far it was.

I told them they could drive to the Sea of Galilee in their rental car and drop me off "kind of" on the way back. It would be about an hour detour. They said ok. So I guess I'm off with these two American women lol. Most random thing ever.

The older woman is from Vancouver Washington and the younger from Austin Texas. Their relation is aunt/niece. The younger woman brought her aunt here, now that is an amazing gift.

Pics of the drive. Still can't believe myself. But they need help and this beats the light rail then the bus ride to Haifa, and this is free.


I'm back at the Sea of Galilee!


Mt of Beatitudes.


Been here. This woman is so cool. Works for Microsoft.


This woman was crazy. Worried like you can't believe. She told me when they got lost the day before she was in tears and before she went to bed she prayed some nice people would help her. All day saying I answered her prayer and saying Joseph Smith would save us if we got into trouble. Really made me laugh! Both these ladies know members an really respect LDS people and the church.





After a long random day I was beyond relieved to have made it to my guest house in Haifa!





In Haifa I did laundry and did some planning for when I get to England in June. Didn't really experience anything here except an Irish Pub for dinner and walking to the port and taking a look around. Haifa is right on the Mediterranean and the city is pretty cool looking. Huge mountain that climbs almost right off the Med.

Train to Tel Aviv the next day.


This kid was blabbing and singing like a retard.











Beautiful area. The Med looks like a fierce sea! The wind and waves are a blowin.



I was actually pretty excited to get to Tel Aviv because I have heard it is the most "normal" part of Israel meaning the religious influence and tension is much lower. I'm also excited to move on from Israel and this is my last destination within the country.

I have heard the beaches are amazing so I wanted to check it out.