The Days in Jerusalem: Day 3: Tour with a Palestinian and the Marine Ball

This trip has already been so incredible and we are only on our 3rd day. We have learned so much and have had our eyes opened as to what the real situation is here. Today, we were honored to have my brother's co-worker Ala give us a tour of "his" Jerusalem. Ala is Palestinian and a Muslim. He took us to areas of Jerusalem and Palestinian neighborhoods that are considered "war zones' or "unsafe". It was shocking to hear the other side, the side that is never told in U.S. media. There is so much hatred, so much oppression and such a lack of humanity it is intolerable. This is definitely not the place to get in to politics, but let's just say that there is an untold story here and it is painful to see and experience. I feel so honored that we got to experience the Ala tour, something most visitors and tourists will never see.

Mike and I with Ala following our morning tour.

Ala took us to his favorite breakfast spot (he's been going here since he was 5 years old). They served us a typical Arab breakfast of hummus and falafel. It was delicious!

Here is a picture of one of the main streets in East Jerusalem, very different from West Jerusalem. Palestinians/Muslims can not get permits from the Israeli government to build or reface structures. If they do, they will be demolished. Therefore there has not been a structural or cosmetic change to any buildings since the 1960's.

This is the wall that Israel has put in place to separate Israel from the Palestinians and "keep peace." It is so awful looking and so depressing.

Ala took us to the boy who was kidnapped and killed father's shop to show us the memorial that was set up. The story of this boy's death and the way it was handled by the Israeli police and government is shocking. It is one of the killings by Israelis of the Palestinian people that caused the recent shootings in the synagogue. Of course, one of these was highly publicized and one was not. It's pretty clear in this example which side of the story is being told.

After our incredible tour with Ala (which we never wanted to end), we met up with CJ and the kiddos to eat Shwarma and see an olive wood carver. CJ took us to one of his favorite shwarma places, it was... interesting. Not my favorite food I've ever had, but it wasn't terrible either. Just different. Stella and Sebi weren't big fans, but we told Stella that part of experiencing a culture is eating their food (a sentiment I have to remind myself of often:))

The crew eating Shwarma

Here it is- a tortilla style wrap filled with turkey, veggies and a typical Arab cucumber relish.

Stella bravely conquering the shwarma.

Following lunch, we headed to a friend of CJ and Kari's olive wood shop. Here he hand carves each piece out of Olive Wood found in Jerusalem. His work was amazing. Mike and I have been searching for a good nativity set and we found an amazing set here. We're so excited about it, it's beautiful, hand carved and made right here in the Holy Land.

This isn't the nativity set we bought, but here's an example of his incredible work.

Tonight the adults had tickets to the Marine Ball held at the Waldorf Astoria. It's an annual black tie event celebrating the birthday of the Marine Corps- Mike and I were so excited to be a part of it. Other than my wedding day, I haven't had the opportunity to get this dressed up and fancy since prom. CJ and Kari set up a babysitter for the evening and actually by the time we left, Stella and Sebastian were both in bed sleeping so it was pretty easy.

The ball was amazing, I loved witnessing the ceremony of the Marines, seeing them in uniform, watching them march and cutting the cake with a sword. We had a great night of conversations, delicious food and endless dancing. It was fun to meet CJ's co-workers and to experience the camaraderie of his team here. They are great people and it makes me happy to see CJ and his family so happy here.