Molly meets Mountain: We don't run like this in Chicago

I have a ton to write about again, but as usual, not enough time to do so. I'll have to leave out the second Jerusalem field study last Sunday. It was pretty much amazing and I could write about it forever, so I'll just have to leave that for another post.

The field study really wore us out. We basically walked all over the place from 7 am to 6 pm. On any other day this would have been great, but unfortunately this was Super Bowl Sunday. Here it's more like Super Bowl Monday; the kick off is at 1:30 AM. It was the best I could do to stay awake until midnight. So I took a "nap" until 1 AM and walked across town with a few others to one of the grad student’s apartments. I only lasted half the game and headed back in order to get a few hours of sleep. I should've just finished the game up since the second half was the exciting half, but its probably good I got a few hours in before my 8:15 class.

Classes dragged but by the afternoon I was awake enough. My roommate Christina, another girl from our program, and I walked to the Shuk (pronounced Shuke). The Shuk is the New City’s market. Its basically a glorified farmers market and the cheapest place to get a lot of things. It was great. There were tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses, halva (a sweet made of sesame and is supposed to provide energy), flowers, spices, dried fruits, nuts, breads and sweets. I bought a few shekles worth of fruits and nuts. It's quite an experience and I hope to go back soon.

Yesterday before dinner I went for a run with two other kids in the program, Karin and Andrew. I've run with Karin before; she's great and has been here for a semester so she knows the area well. It was great to have Andrew along with this time. Having a guy along frees women to safely go places that otherwise would not be wise to visit. Because Andrew was along we ran around the Old City walls. It was a little sketchy running through the Arab part of town; women running around in shorts isn't exactly acceptable in their eyes. Once we got through that though it was a gorgeous run. The path took us through the Muslim cemetery, which is actually kind of creepy, but looked out over the Mt. of Olives. All together it was probably not much over 3 miles, but the hills were like nothing I've ever run before. I think in Chicago the biggest hill I have to get over is my driveway. Its definitely something I'll have to get used to, especially since we're going to try a 4:30 AM run up the Mt. of Olives to catch the sunrise soon.

Today I went on another great run. This time we added another guy, Craig, to our ranks. The four of us ran South through the Promenade. It's this beautiful running/walking path that follows the watershed ridge. We stopped at the end and its probably the most beautiful view I've witnessed my time here so far. It looks directly down at the Hinnom valley and across to the Old City. Just to the right was the Central and Kidron Valley. We could see tiny little City of David squeezed between the valleys, overshadowed by the Mt. of Olives just to the East. Then way to the East we could see beautiful mountains. I'm not sure what they were, but we'll probably find out soon enough. I wish I could get a picture of it for all of you to see, but I don't think it would do it justice. I'll have to go back and take pictures all the way across and tape them together.

I love running here so much. It gives me an excuse to get out of the books and see the land. Its great for my Physical Geography class too, as I basically get a tour of all the land I am supposed to know each time I go. So I guess its kind of like studying, right?