Brain Dead

It's official, my brain has stopped working. After two weeks of studying and finals, the state of cerebral activity is sketchy at best. Pouring over notes, quizzing my peers, and attempting to re-read an entire semester's worth of assigned reading put me in such a state. At one point I looked up from my Palestinian final this afternoon and just stared stupidly at the front of the lecture hall for at least 5 minutes. I could not for the life of me bring back into memory the things my teacher had lectured on a mere 24 hours before. The good news is that tests are over, and next week we are headed to Galilee! But first, I need to relate what has kept me sane the past few days.

Yesterday, after taking our ridiculously difficult Judaism final, a group of us headed to Ammunition Hill. This is the site where part of the six day war in 1967 was fought. While we had fun meandering around the hill and playing army with pine cones, it was yet another reminder of just how ugly war really is. So many of those who fought and died were my age. They had letters to family, pictures, and biographies of these young soldiers. Sometimes I think I have a pretty good grasp on reality, and then I go into war memorials. Some things will just never make sense to me.

The Israeli Flag just inside the Ammunition Hill memorial building that was signed by some of the war veterans.

Here's the golden wall with the names inscribed of those who died fighting in the war.

Coming home from that visit, I attempted to study for the last final, but found myself distracted by things like backward somersault competitions...which I apparently have a knack for. Of course just as with all things, the fun ended in injury, this time on my already bruised knee. And I somehow managed to get rug burn on the tops of my feet. Injuries are are just another talent of mine.

Today was simply more failed attempts at studying. After having a rather conflicted internal debate over what my priorities should be, I decided to go to my favorite place in all of Jerusalem instead of stay inside and study: the suq. Thus, while my final grade will definitely suffer from lack of preparation, I have no regrets. Stefanie, Chelsea, and I stuck together and I spent my last few sheks on more dried fruit to get me through Galilee. We sampled tasty fruit, bartered with Jewish merchants, elbowed our way through crowds of people, tried on dresses over our awkwardly chunky clothing, and finished the excursion with a trip to the pita factory. Basically, the suq is better than Costco...which is saying alot because we all know I love Costco.

My beloved dried fruit in the suq that I will certainly miss once we go home.

Stefanie and I at the pita factory enjoying our complimentary pitas. Look at those machines!

The rest of the day was basically a JC-wide celebration over the end of testing...for awhile at least. Activities included around the world ping pong, a Weezer music listening party in the lounge (with Jayne, Heidi, and I singing along rather loudly), and yet another viewing of High School Musical 3 (which is quickly becoming the most popular movie of the center). However, we all know the real partying is going to start once we get to Galilee. Yee haw!