[the battle of] Jericho

Sorry I haven't written in a while. Between exploring and homework, I haven't had a lot of time to myself recently. This moment is no exception, so it will be short.

Last week, I got to chill at Dome of the Rock on Wednesday and Thursday, the Western Wall during the beginning of Shabbat (the Jews really, really looooooove the Sabbath, and they throw a party every Friday night to show it), and sang at the Garden Tomb on Saturday. Not to mention a bunch of other places I've been. I have a list around here somewhere...

Yesterday, we went to Jericho, the lowest permanently habited site on the planet. It was overcast, but it was still swelteringly hot. We visited the tel--meaning an artificial hill where a city built on top of a city built on top of a city used to be--at the site where (rumor has it) Joshua and his band of merry men marched around with horns, causing the walls of Jericho to fall. Dating back to 8,000 B.C.E., it is the oldest human settlement known to man. Neat stuff, huh?

Also by Jericho is the Monestary of the Temptations, commemorating when Christ was tempted by Satan after 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. It's a structure built on a sheer cliff, hanging some 200 feet above solid ground. I saw a monk chilling in his apartment. He had a microwave, so he wasn't quite living the lifestyle I imagined a monk would inhabit.

Okay, I've got to go now. 100 pages of reading awaits me.