Loving the Old City and Flying Kites

The view of the city from the center

So on Fridays we're not allowed to go out until after 3 because it is the Muslim prayer day which makes the city and surrounding areas more susceptible to violence and riots and such... So we went out afterwards for just a few hours before dinner. It is so neat to just walk through the old city. I really love it so much - it has such a cool atmosphere, its unlike anything else I've ever experienced. You walk through Damascus gate right into this really busy small market area of everyone yelling "Ashura" (which means 10 shekels or something like that....) and other things. The cobblestones are all worn so smooth, the architecture is all so old (obviously) everythings so old and beautiful and it smells so weird... but I'm getting used to it and I really don't mind it so much. Anyways, all the people are amazing. So we made our way to Shabans which is one of the main shopkeepers that the BYU students go to. You walk in and odds are there are already 10 JC people there. Thats what it was like today. I found some awesome bright red, hawaiian pants and Andy tried them on and Shaban said that he would give them to Andy for free if Andy wore them all the way back to the JC - he did and got some really ugly, free pants.

(I was always a little behind or ahead with the jumping pictures....)

The best part of today was flying kites on top of the center after dinner - it was awesome. The weather was incredible, the prayer call was going off, there was a wedding with music and fireworks going on below the center and our kites kept getting caught on top of the building - what more could you ask for?Rachel, Aubrey, me and Emilywe're pretty intense....