11/20 to 11/23 | A Class Presentation and a Day Off

As my time here in Israel gets shorter, the amount of schoolwork I have continues to grow.  For every one of my classes, there is something major coming up: a midterm in Hebrew, a paper on "Ethics within the Business Practices of the Israeli Diamond Industry" for Business Ethics, a paper on "Modern Diplomacy, Ancient Societies: Analyzing the Relationship between the People’s Republic of China and the State of Israel" for Foreign Policy, and a major quiz in Archaeology.  With so much ahead of me, it is daunting to think about all the work I have left to do.  Fortunately, I have already presented all of my research for my Business Ethics paper this past Monday in class, so that assignment will not take too much more effort to write.  In fact, the paper is practically written; it is just in the form of a PowerPoint presentation right now.

The title slide of my presentation.

A slide from my presentation.

Sunday was spent completing the presentation, which I presented on Monday.  On Tuesdays, I usually have Archaeology of Jerusalem, but it was moved to Friday this week because of another field trip to the Israel Museum.  This means today was a completely free day, which Alison, Rachel, and I spent wandering the city.  Here are some pictures from our brief adventure:

Read the bottom of this post to understand why finding a sign for Morasha/Morsha was so exciting.

A typical sight in Jerusalem: groups of African Christians in their native garb on pilgrimage.

Walking through the ritzy Mamilla Mall on our way to the Old City.

One of the main streets of the Old City.

The Cardo in the Jewish Quarter is a very fancy strip mall built on the remains of an old Roman marketplace.

The Churva Synagogue in the main square of the Jewish Quarter.  The word churva means ruin in English.  It has been destroyed many times over the course of its history, most recently by the Arab Legion in the 1948 War of Independence.  Its most recent incarnation was completed two years ago, true to its historic design.

A beautiful door, featuring a stylized menorah, of Beit HaKnesset HaIstanbul, or the Istanbul Synagogue in English.

A spice pyramid with the Dome of the Rock on top.

There is not much going on tomorrow, but on Thursday, the Office of Student Activities is putting on a big event (including a three course meal) for all the American kids that need their Thanksgiving fix.  That promises to be a lot of fun and, while I will definitely miss being home for the holiday, I am so excited for an Israeli-style Thanksgiving!