Some fun times

So this week has been good so far. The week after Egypt has been kind of exhausting because I feel like I've been trying to catch up on sleep for quite some time. It was so worth it though.
Basically, I just wanted to share some fun pictures with you. :)
After classes yesterday, I went to the Citadel of David with some friends. It was a rainy day, so the sky wasn't particularly stunning, and we got a little wet while exploring, but it was so much fun! I took my first ever amazing jumping picture that I wanted to share with you guys. The Citadel was sweet. It's HUGE and there are so many passages and walls and insides and outsides to check out. We wandered all over the place. And it's all very well preserved, which is really neat.
After classes today I went to West Jerusalem and went shopping in the mall. It's kind of crazy how East Jerusalem/the Old City are a completely different world and time period compared to West Jerusalem. You just cross the street and people are wearing more modern dress, you recognize stores and brands (gap, adidas, nike, kodak, etc.). It's kind of weird. I have no desire to buy anything here that I can buy at home though, so I just kind of went along to have fun. A few of us separated from the group and had lunch at a place called Cafe Hillel. We actually ran into a religious group on a pilgrimage from California. It really is a small world.
After my Arabic class this afternoon, we had Arab Night! We dressed up the best we could (we all looked completely ridiculous and not even close to what everyone here really looks like) and went to a lecture, had dinner, then learned an Arabic dance. The lecture was really neat because a father and son came in and demonstrated "saying/reading" the Qu'ran. (They actually sing it, but you don't call it singing.) It's actually their job and they went to a special school to be trained. The son had been doing it since he was 8 years old and he had the Qu'ran memorized when he was 16! I guess it's a family thing and the job passes down from father to son and if the son does not have that talent or does not want to do that, then the father will find a cousin or something. I really enjoyed listening to that.
Dinner was fun because the tables were set up especially for the evening with table clothes and fabric napkins and all sorts of fun things. The picture of me and some friends was taken after we finished eating. We're a great foursome. :)
After dinner we went into the gym for a dance lesson, but after about half an hour, some people just got too excited and it turned from a dance lesson into a dancy party and everyone just went crazy dancing and getting their wiggles out. We had fun.
Well, I need to get back to homework - we have a quiz in our Judaism class tomorrow!
Love you all!

P.S. The last picture is with my Arabic teacher - Ayman. He is such a funny man!