Noah's Ark

Wow, I don't think I knew what it means to be tired until today. My feet hurt, my mind feels exhausted, and I am ready to sleep. I've been tired before, but for some reason this feels different. (Left - Moses' Rock in the Biblical Zoo). Maybe it has to do with walking all the way from SW Jerusalem to NE Jerusalem. It took several hours, but it was fun.
Let me 'splain. I had my Arabic class today, but that was all. After class, I found a group leaving to go to the Knesset. I decided to join them. We had to get our passports, but while in the process of doing so, we learned that it is not open on Wednesdays, so we changed our plans. We decided to go to the Biblical Zoo instead. We took a shrut (taxi) and it took a good 20-30 minutes to get there. Now think about that when you think how far I walked today.
The Biblical Zoo was really good. (Right - posing with the bears. Catherine, me, and Mike). It cost 10 NIS to get there, and 33 NIS to get in. I was a little skeptical about paying that much, but we were there and it would have been a waste to leave. It turned out to be really cool. The animals were active and loud. We had a lot of laughs, saw Moses' rock and Noah's ark, and were inspired by the scripture references on each animal's information plaque. They also had a lot of little areas where you could get up close and personal with (though not feed or touch) birds, kangaroos, lemurs, and the like. (Left - Lion that roared for us). I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We were there for a couple of hours before leaving. We had to walk over the hill back into Jerusalem. Then we headed toward the Supreme Court. We wanted to check that out. We got a little lost, but we called JC Security to get directions. While walking, we discovered the King David Hotel and the Jerusalem YMCA. We went into the YMCA and went up the tower to the top. That was 203 stairs (beating the 167 stairs of the Lutheran Church) some of which were curly, some were not. By this time, my battery for my camera had died several times but would come back on after a few minutes. Luckily, I was able to get most of the pictures that I wanted. (Right - A mother chimpanzee carrying her baby).
We continued on and went to Ben Jahud street where some people got Schwarmas, and others went to a Kosher Burger King. I got ice cream at the Kosher Burger King. We headed back and had to really book it to make it back to the center before it got dark. The sun was setting just as we walked up the stairs to the center (which counts as being on the grounds). It was a tiring day, but I feel good about myself.
Tonight, we also have choir practice. After choir practice, I plan on going right to bed. It should be great. Tomorrow is our first major FIELD TRIP!!

Noah's Ark

Lemurs - Up Close and PersonalYMCA - That tower is the one we climbed

Burger King - Lauran and Emily