June 22, 2007

Travis' blog for June 21
Travis' blog for June 22

Ok, I'm a little behind... and I don't have the time to catch up now. Also, I don't have time for pictures... especially since most of my pictures now are Travis' and my computer and software are all too old for him, so we can't see any of his pictures. hehehe. So, I'll update when I can. Btw, everyone, Travis made it safe! His luggage is a different story... ehhh... pray for his luggage!

--------

First full day with Travis. Breakfast was from 7-8:30, so we set the alarm for 7, finally got up at 7:30 and ate breakfast at 8. I felt like I was eating in Jordan again, except the cornflakes, watermelon and bread weren't because it was the only edible food, but because it was the only food. I seriously laughed when I saw the picture of warm milk sitting next to a bowl of cornflakes and large spoons. Travis, however, introduced me to something that I wish I had thought of months ago—jam in cornflakes. Ok, yes, I admit, I'm pretty sure I've eaten that before back home. Which makes me feel even more dumb for not thinking about it in all of our partially-edible buffet breakfasts. ~sigh. Oh well.

After breakfast, we came back to plan our day and make plans for Egypt. We looked through pictures, watched Journey of Faith, and tried to call the airport to find his missing luggage. We discovered quickly that the phones in our room don't call out of the hospice. So we headed out to find Omar or Jimmy to see if they could help us out in placing this call. After a self-confidence deflating trip of getting lost, we finally found the closed shop of Omar. Apparently, when the students aren't here, he closes on Friday with the rest of the Palestinian community. Seriously, it looked like a ghost town. Or perhaps it was just because it was so early. Maybe he opens in the afternoon. Who knows. So instead, we found a falafel shop and let Travis try his first falafel. Then we bought a calling card that calls in Israel and headed back to the hospice. I felt a little guilty entering Damascus gate before 2 or 3 on a Friday, but what were we supposed to do? We're staying inside the Old City. But don't worry, we went straight to the hospice. We first tried the phone. First call, Travis listened to the entire Hebrew message, then the English at the very end simply said, "We're sorry, we're unable to take your call at this time." So we called a few more times, hanging up after 4 rings. Giving up, we started adventuring

After climbing onto the roof, we realized there were amazing pictures to be had. Back to the room to get the telephoto lens. Now we have this fun picture of Muslims actually praying at the Dome of the Rock. There's a picture no one in our group should have. (If they do, I'd love to know how they did it without breaking rules...) We tried the phone again. This time, we called the Jerusalem Center to see if the airport had called them. No luck. Then we called the travel agency —they were closed. Then we tried calling the airport over and over and over again. We finally got bored of calling the airport then hanging up, then calling, then hanging up, etc. So we went back to the room and tried to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. After an hour of looking at books and maps, I finally declared that we were going to go to the Church of St. Anne's (including the Pool of Bethesda), Church of the Flagulation, and Church of the Condemnation, then play it by ear after that. So we did.

We've discovered that Travis' mini, flexible tripod is very helpful. It took a little while for him to figure out how to hook it to the back of a pew, but he got it. Then started the time-consuming picture taking. I was amazed at how bored I wasn't. It was kind of fun watching him set things up, watching other people, listening in on their tours, enjoying the churches, and reading the Michael's guide book. We'd walk from church to church as I read the guide book to him, and he stopped to take pictures. After we finished the three churches, we headed out Lion's Gate, just to see the outside of it. While out there, we were entertained by the amount of people trying to drive in and out. Or the guy parked on the sidewalk that was two steps above street level. We finally went back in and decided, we've already started, why not finish the Via Dolorosa? Out came the guide book and we started following along with the stations of the cross. We were helped along by random people in the street that would see us reading a guide book, looking around, and dangling a giant camera. Taking pity on our obvious tourist state, they would point out "This is the first station, and that is the second. They're both open. Do you want a guide?" Ok, so perhaps they weren't taking pity on us so much as wanting to make a buck as a guide.

Oh, that reminds me. At some point during the day, we were wandering around the Ecco Homo (our hospice), looking at a map of what seemed to be the underneath of the hospice, when this guy showed up and motioned us to go down with him. Curious as to what the basement held, we followed. He took us on a little tour, speaking very little English, and the little he spoke was rarely understandable. I caught the words "Mary" and "cross" a few times. So we just smiled and nodded. So I started trying to figure out what things were. At one point, the floor had glass and you could look down several feet below, so I told Trav that was probably the original street level. The guy was a little creepy, though, in his own right. He seemed safe enough, but he liked to hold my hand to guide me to the next place, and very quickly. Luckily, after he took my hand, I would pull it away and he didn't protest. Then, he saw Travis' camera and asked if he wanted to take a picture. Not being the ordinary point and click kind of guy, he got down on the floor and started setting up his shot. Then our self-appointed guide tried to get me to move on to the next stop. Growing a spine, I told him we could move when Travis was done. The guide tried again, and I again said I was waiting for Travis. So the guide told me I was a good friend, and we waited. While we waited he said something about coffee. His tone implied that he was asking a question, so I simply said No Thanks. He looked a little confused and hurt and asked why not. I told him I didn't drink coffee. After that, he let us leave, but not before he made us pay him. ~sigh. Why didn't I think of that before? I, of all people, should know that nothing is free in the Middle East. Silly Tianna.

Anyway, back to our tour of the Via Dolorosa. After the first few stops, everything was closed. Note to self, do the Via Dolorosa again during business hours. :) And not on a Holy Day. The city was empty. It was really weird. We walked down the streets with shops closed all over, with the roads to ourself, being able to take pictures without having to wait long for them to be void of people. We ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I must admit, I liked it much better this time. First, there was only a fraction of the people there. Second, I had the guidebook to explain things to me. Third, Travis got some really cool pictures. Thank goodness for a wide angle lens. He got some great pictures that I never could have. Even better was how empty the church was. I discovered today that Travis is a very patient man when it comes to taking pictures. He'd set up his shot, then sit there for 10-15 minutes waiting for a 10 second window with no one in it. With the darkness of the church, he had to do long exposures, so even if someone quickly walked through, you can't see them in the end product. It's really neat. Travis insists that I'm going to know so much more about photography before we're done. He randomly stops and teaches me photography lessons. ~sigh... he's probably right... make a photographer of me yet. :) It'll be fun, though. I've always wanted to have a creative eye. Hopefully he can help me out. I've already learned about reflected light (though I can't really see it yet) and stops. The Holy Sepulcher took a good hour or two to go through and photograph, but it was worth it.

We finally left around 8, deciding it was time to find dinner. We started our quest for an open restaurant. The city now was almost ghostly empty. Everything was closed except for sweet shops. Finally, stopping in two of the little grocery-type sweet shops, we obtained our dinner: onion crackers and honey flavored peanut butter. Oh, and Sour Cream and Onion Pringles. Sounds healthy, doesn't it? :) We've decided to eat dinner earlier from now on. We didn't realize the crackers were onion until we got back to the room, at which point I couldn't help laughing. But, being good sports (and hungry), we dipped the crackers into the PB anyway. They weren't half bad. If covered in enough PB, it almost covers the taste of the onion. :) Luckily, I had brought some fruit with me, too, so we split an orange. Oh... the adventures of a foreign country. I didn't really think food through, I'm realizing. ~sigh.

We also discovered today that my old OS and Photoshop are detrimental to Travis' picture viewing abilities. First, we can't open his RAW files. Second, we can't load Lighthouse. (Whatever that is...) Oops? Looks like we might be taking my computer to church tomorrow to use the Center's internet. :D hehehe. I hope they still love me over there... Wish us luck! (Granted, if we don't get access to the Internet, you won't be reading this for a long while...)

Also, pray for Travis' luggage! We haven't found it yet!